How Do I Loathe Thee?
by Iellix
Summary: --DEAD STORY.-- Squall and Yuffie hate each other. Really, truly, and fully HATE each other. Or do they? Sparks ignite in the strangest of places, it seems...
1. Prologue: How Do I Loathe Thee?

Well, well, well, how about this? My muse decided that she would take pity on me and give me one idea to work with in school. She left me with this title, and the vague summary, so I'll take what I can get and… _here I go!_ I hope you like it!

Author's Notes: This one does _not,_ I repeat, does _not_ have anything to do with Zephyr what-so ever. Also, this may be slightly borderline PG-13 and R rating, but I promise you that it will stay clean and I won't do anything nasty. Although I can't vouch for Squall and his hormones…

Summary: Squall Leonheart and Yuffie Kisagari hate each other passionately. But due to Cupid's nasty sense of humor, they find themselves madly in love. This matter of the heart proves to be more of a menace than the toughest of Heartless.

                                                                                                         ~*~

The ninja Yuffie was roused from the first actual sleep she had in days when someone shook her bed violently. Vaguely, she heard a gruff voice demand, "Move over."

          The _last_ thing she wanted to do was to get up and move somewhere, and she voiced her opinion to the pair of black boots that she found herself at eye-level with. Unfortunately, her groggy, half-sleeping state caused the words to slur and it came out, "Idun wan' getup…" She rolled onto her back, able to make out the shape of Squall standing over her and peering down at her through those dark blue eyes. He was looking at her as if she was insane.

          "What?" He asked. This time, Yuffie was able to speak coherently and tried again.

          "I said I don't wanna get up. You can either step across or physically move me," she told him. She rolled back over to go back to sleep, thinking that he would leave her be now. But a second later, she felt herself being lifted up, moved to the other side of the bed, and dropped a foot and hitting the mattress with a soft "thump." She lifted her head to look in Squall's direction.

          He had taken his boots off and cast the Gunblade aside so that he could get some rest. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. She noticed that he looked tired… probably due to fighting the Heatless all day. Despite having located the Keyblade Master, the monsters still roamed the permanently dark streets of Traverse Town, and they were getting stronger as the days went by. This had been the cause of Aerith demanding that Yuffie begin rooming with Squall. She thought that her friend needed protecting, but it was common knowledge that the young ninja could hold her own easily against the monsters. Nonetheless, she had grudgingly obliged and now shared a room with Squall Leonheart.

          Actually, she never _really_ minded rooming with him in the first place. In truth, the idea sent her into hidden excitement, and she didn't know why. No, she _knew_ why, she just didn't want to admit it to _anyone,_ let alone the object of her mixed-up affections. She closed her eyes fully again, thinking of him. He was always so mean to her, even when they barely knew one another in Hollow Bastion—she assumed because he always thought of her as an obnoxious little kid.

          _I hate him,_ she thought absently. _He drives me crazy and he _never_ smiles. I wish I could room with Aerith again but this was the only way I could get her to shut up._ She hurt all over, too, from the events of the last few days. She groaned as her muscles screamed in protest when she rolled over onto her side.

          "Lay still," she heard Squall growl. He was certainly in a grouchy mood. Then again, he had been out for a few hours longer than she had, fending the Heartless away from the First District, which was a safe haven in the cold, dark down. Outside, various Heartless roamed the deserted streets. She tossed in bed again; Squall hissed at her to lay still. Growling, she bounced hard just out of spite, and hogged all the blankets for good measure.

          _Take that,_ she thought. There was a tug on the blankets as Squall pulled them back.

          "Brat," he whispered.

          Time passed; Yuffie didn't know really how _much_ time had passed, but it must have been a lot, because Squall had fallen fast asleep, but she was still awake, although she was very tired. But she couldn't grasp sleep. Instead, she kept thinking of him. He always called her a brat, or some other unappealing name like that. She was laying on her stomach and staring at him, watching his too-long bangs ruffle as he breathed evenly. He looked at peace in his sleep—probably the only time he was _ever_ at peace was in his sleep, though. Yuffie reached and gently brushed the coarse brown locks from his face so she could see him more clearly, but the tickle of her fingers on his face made him twist and turn away.

          Why was she thinking like this? She couldn't stand the way he acted—always so stoic and emotionless. Never once had she seen him smile; never once did he offer her an encouraging word, although he was as gentle as a lamb when Aerith was about.

          _He knows just as well as I do that Aerith loves Cloud—and she always _will_ love him. Wherever he is now,_ she thought miserably, fighting back sudden and painful tears. So much had happened in the last few years that it was making her heart and her head ache. Not the least of which was Squall… he drove her crazy. Mad, insane, completely and totally berserk. So why did she have such mixed feelings when he was so near, like now, when he was sleeping and completely at peace?

          Yuffie rubbed her temples. She felt a headache coming and thought it best to leave her thoughts for one night. Perhaps, once morning came, she could track down Aerith and catch her alone so that she could talk to her about it. Aerith was good with these kinds of problems—it was likely that she could help. Even so, was she sure she wanted to admit this to her? After all, she wasn't entirely sure. She told herself over and over and over again that she couldn't say that she was in love with someone just because he was attractive and made her swoon when he got near her. And besides _that—_Aerith was none too good with secrets.

          _Morning—wait 'til morning,_ she thought. _I'll know then._

                                                                                                             ~*~

Okay, there's the prologue! I will be working on this on and off in school when my muse strikes, so do check back for updates. And for those of you who play Final Fantasy X, I will have a fic up for that, as well. It will be titles, "Velveteen Dreams," in case you are interested. This was a short chapter only because it was a prologue—the others will probably be around two thousand to twenty-five hundred words. This one is barely a thousand. I do hope you like it, though, and that is spark your interest!

Make me a happy writer and review! Reviews encourage chapters, you know! And since these aren't _whole stories_ like they were for PTSWS, updates will be far more frequent!

--the Vulpes Lapis  


	2. I Hate You

Ahhh… it's pretty late, and I haven't even been up for twelve hours. And I'm hungry. And I'll stop bitching now and start with my intros and the chapter…

Thanks to the wonderful reviewers, as I didn't expect this many. _Eight_ reviews for a prologue? Wow! You like me! You _really_ like me! *giggle* Okay, okay, okay… I'm done now. I really am. (P.S: Snowri, I would love to see that picture… email it to me whenever is good for you!)

I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It's as simple as that. In a chapter or so, I'll begin abusing people about it! FEAR THE VL!

                                                                                                          ~*~

"Think of an excuse, think of an excuse, think of an excuse," Yuffie muttered to herself, pacing back and forth in front of Aerith's door. She had knocked a few moments ago and was told to wait whilst her friend got some clothes on. She wanted to talk to her about changing rooms, as she couldn't stand to room with Squall any longer. The door opened, and a sleepy-looking Aerith appeared.

          "What did you need, Yuffie? Come in and sit down," she offered, voice gentle as usual. The young ninja nodded, stepping into the room and closing the door.

          "I wanna room with you again," she begged, sounding more like a hurt puppy than the "Greatest Female Ninja Ever." "Squall's driving me insane, what with him and his new name, and telling me to do things all the time and criticizing the way I fight—" with Yuffie, anyone criticizing the way she fought was as bad as accusing her of murder. The fact that Squall was doing so crushed her, since all she _ever_ wanted to do was to please him but no matter what she did, it seemed that he would persist in hating her. "Plus, he always calls me a brat."

          "Yuffie, you know I just wanted you to be safe, and—" Aerith began her broken-record explanation of why she had made Yuffie share a room with Squall. Yuffie exploded in her face, interrupting her rudely and stumbling out of her chair as she lurched to her feet.

          "No! Not again! I can take care of myself and I _don't need anyone to protect me!"_ She yelled. "I know that, and you know that, and even _Squall_ knows that and I hate that you treat me like a little kid and I hate that _he_ treats me like a little _bug!"_ There was no stopping her now, Aerith knew. Instead, she sat quietly and listened. "I wanna get away from him! I can't stand him and he definitely can't stand _me!"_ She boomed, then crossed her arms over her chest and glared venomously at Aerith, who's expression was unreadable.

          "I only wanted to do what I thought was best for you." Her voice was even and her eyes unblinking.

          Yuffie didn't realize what she'd done until _after_ she had done it. She had grabbed Aerith by the arm and shoved her backwards, making her stumble into the table and fall down, hitting the back of her head on the edge. Then she ran out of the front door into the nearly-abandoned streets of the Second District.

          The streets and alleys were silent and empty, although every so often she would hear the skitter-scatter of sharp little Shadow Heartless claws on the stone ground or the loud clank of the armor that covered the big, clumsy Heartless called Defenders. She wrinkled her nose, remembering the first time she had seen one. It shot fire from the red gems that served as the eyes on the canine-like shield and nearly caught her clothes aflame. She'd turned tail and run, and had been scared of fire ever since. She never told anyone else about it, though; she was afraid that they would laugh and think she was a baby.

          The steady clanking of the Defender was getting louder, and Yuffie stopped, looking back and forth over her shoulders trying to locate the source. It was nearby—she knew that much.

          _Clank. Clank. Clank._

          It was getting closer. On instinct, one hand went into her pocket for a shuriken. She wanted to be ready when this big, stupid, clumsy creature came along. Her agility would be enough to keep her well out of harms' way if it decided to charge, but if it fired from its' shield, she didn't know what she would do.

          _Clank. Clank._

          "You really shouldn't wander alone," someone said. Yuffie jumped a mile in the air from fear and spun to face whomever had snuck up behind her. The look of fear on her face turned into an angry frown when she saw Squall standing nearby. The clanking she had heard, she decided, was _not_ from a Defender Heartless but rather from the heavy metal pendant he always wore about his neck. At least she had been correct about her stalker being big, stupid, and clumsy.

          "Why do _you_ care?" She asked, annoyed, and hiding the fact that her heart was racing and her mind was spinning and her thoughts were now all focused on him. "Aerith sent you to find me, didn't she?" She asked.

          A headshake was her answer as he nonchalantly leaned on a building and crossed his arms. He turned his head down, eyes now hidden by his long hair. "I was in the Waterway. I came back out and saw you here alone… you and I both know it isn't safe to be out here alone. The Heartless keep getting stronger and stronger."

          "Then why were _you_ out alone?" She snapped.

          He didn't answer. He just kept his gaze pointed at the ground.

          "See?" Yuffie growled. "You can't tell me to do anything unless yer willing to do it, too. Yer a damned hypocrite is what you are!" He didn't appear to be listening to her yelling. "Are you listening to me?"

          "Yea…" he said. "'Damned hypocrite,' go on." He was letting her comments slide off of him like water off of wax, and it drove her crazy.

          "You… _I hate you!"_ She lashed out with one fist to hit him in the jaw, but he caught her hand by the wrist and stopped her from doing so. Then he lifted his head up and away from her as she struggled to get her hand back.

          "Don't try that stunt again," his voice was low, threatening, and had a tone to it that definitely meant business. She pulled harder to try and get him to release her, flailing and trying to slap him with the captive hand. She could do no such thing, and he spun her against the wall and pushed her into it so hard that she squeaked. Deep blue eyes locked onto hers and he whispered in that venomous voice of his, "I said not to do that again."

          Yuffie gave one last attempt to free herself and managed to do so. She clenched and unclenched her fist to regain the feeling in her hand and glared up at him. She tried to look threatening, but she doubted that it was working. He was so close to her, having pinned her against the wall and keeping her from going anywhere, and she felt that her heart was beating so quickly that it was surely burst at any time.

          Squall leaned in, making her feel dizzy and giddy and scared all at once. He whispered her name in her ear and his lips brushed her neck; Yuffie could barely keep standing. Had she not been leaning against the wall, she figured that she would keel over because her knees had turned to pudding. How was he doing this? He must have known some sort of mind-control.

          When she reached up one shaky hand to put it around his neck, he jerked backwards as if the contact burned his skin like acid. It gave Yuffie back the brief willpower to slip underneath one of his arms and free herself.

          "Keep away," she warned him, taking a few steps back so that he wouldn't have this effect on her. He didn't bother moving, merely watched her from where he stood with an intense look in his eyes. Or at least… she _thought_ it was an intense look, as mostly his eyes were hidden beneath too-long bangs. Frightened, she turned and made a dash for the back of the hotel, where she could be alone with her thoughts for a while.

          Why had he acted the way he did? She knew that he couldn't stand the fact that she even _existed,_ let alone having to share a room with her and be with her every day. She could've been devoured by a mad pack of Shadows or trampled to death by a Defender and he wouldn't give a damn.

          …so why did his eyes burn when he had looked at her and his voice been so husky when he breathed her name in her ear? It made her brain hurt and she tried to stop thinking about it before she had an aneurism.

          _Stop it, Yuffie!_ She told herself. _Don't chase something you'll never get or else bad things will happen!_

          Suddenly, she was put in mind of one of her mother's moral-stories about a dog who tried to steal a bone from another dog, only it was merely his reflection in a lake, and the stupid dog had leaped into the water and drowned himself. She felt not unlike that right now, only drowning didn't appeal to her.

          The last thing she wanted to do right now was face Squall, or worse still, Aerith, so she went right past the hotel and made it into the safe haven of the First District where she slept on the balcony over the café… alone.

                                                                                                              ~*~

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Okay, two reasons for me to scream. One is that I'm so freakin' sick and I can hardly swallow and I'm losing my voice and I can't afford to miss school so even if I was _dying_ my mom would make me go anyway. The second thing is that I think this chapter sucked. But that's just my opinion. Squiffie-ness _will_ be coming in the near future, so keep your eyes open! And can't you _smell_ that lovely love-hate relationship unfolding here? Ahh…  sweet romance…    


	3. Stepping Stones

Oh, yuck. I think I got a grand total of maybe two hours of sleep last night because I felt so rotten that I couldn't get comfortable. And since I got up twice to puke, my mommy is letting me stay home—a mixed blessing since I've missed _so damned much school_ already this year. (Hey, I'm a Junior in high school—I don't need this!) One good thing about this nasty flu is that I can write although my eyes hurt pretty badly.

And one more thing to say before I begin—once again, directed to Snowri: _YOU ARE IN SEVENTH GRADE?? I FEEL SO IMMENSELY STUPID BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE AT LEAST FOURTEEN!_ Sheez! Meh dear, do continue writing, as I can smell brilliance in you.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Anyone who thinks that I do, I shall shower with thanks and praise before slapping them around the room for their total and utter stupidity.

                                                                                                         ~*~

Squall grimaced as the rain picked up, and he wrapped his long coat around himself more tightly as he continued through the damp streets. Even the Heartless didn't care to venture from their burrows on a day like this, and yet here he was, outside and searching for that obnoxious little Yuffie.

          Thunder rumbled overhead and the skies opened a little bit more, as if just to spite him. He'd been out here for nearly an hour looking for Yuffie and the _only_ reason why he was bothering to do so was because Aerith demanded that he look for her. She didn't want to get her feet wet so she had sent him. Only now he was beginning to get sore vexed and a little worried. He was re-combing areas that he had searched before, hoping to find her. He tried to convince himself that he wasn't worried that something might have happened to her, but rather he was worried about what Aerith would do—or say—if he showed his face again without Yuffie in tow.

          Finally, after an hour of searching, he gave up and headed into the Waterway where he knew that there would be no Heartless. Let Yuffie find her way back on her own. It would also be relatively dry in there. Getting his feet wet would be a change from getting poured on by rain.

          But once he got into the Waterway, he heard something moving around inside. Ever-cautious and ever-suspicious, he silently drew his weapon and stalked towards the source of the noise. It was dark inside the Waterway, but there was enough light to be able to see a shape nearby tossing stoned across the waters' surface to make them skip. Squall sighed and lowered his weapon. Yuffie… he should've known better.

          "Where have you _been?" _He demanded of her as he walked up to meet her. Yuffie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

          "Why do _you_ care?" She asked, tossing another flat stone across the water. It skipped four times and then sank. Curious, he glanced over her shoulder.

          "Hey, do that again," he sounded, amongst other things, intrigued. A confused frown crossed the ninja's face for a second before she shrugged and tossed another stone. This one skipped five times and landed on a rock sticking up out of the water. Yuffie noticed a smirk on Squall's face.

          "Here, you try," she told him, handing him a flat stone the size of a tangerine. "You just whip it like this—" she made a motion with her hand as if she was going to throw a stone or one of her shurikens "—and it should skip." He nodded, and she thought it odd that they were doing this. Here they were, standing inside an underground waterway-cave with terrible creatures that could have been lurking anywhere and a raging storm outside—and she was trying to teach this stoic swordsman how to skip stones.

          Squall had thrown his stone and it jumped up off of the water once, then sank. He screwed up his face as he watched her skip a stone three times.

          "It takes a little getting used-to," she explained. "That, and mostly it's sheer dumb luck." She threw another stone, but this one didn't skip at all. "You see?" Squall nodded and picked up another stone. This one he managed to make take a very long leap and land on the shore on the opposite side of the dark cavern. And, to their horror, something over there stirred.

          "Don't make a sound," he whispered, drawing his weapon again. He didn't take his eyes off of the patch of shadows across the way. There was more sound, this time sounding like _several_ "somethings" moving around. Slowly, one by one, pairs of glowing yellow eyes became visible. Shadow Heartless had sought refuge from the storm in the Waterway as well, and now they had been rudely awakened and were very cranky.

          Normally, Shadows wouldn't have been something to lose ones' head about, but recently the strength of these creatures had increased greatly, making them more difficult targets. They were coming out now, leaping on stepping-stones across the water to their side, where the ninja and swordsman stood rooted to their spots, either out of fear or out of determination.

          _Well,_ Yuffie thought. _This is _terribly_ inconvenient. And there certainly are a _lot_ of them…_ She tried to count all of them, but all she could really confirm was that there were about eleven Shadows closing in on them. _Don't fight first. Don't fight first. Don't fight first,_ she repeated to herself.

          Heartless stood facing humans; none moved. Each was waiting for the other to make the first move until one bored Shadow decided that it was time to pick a fight, and it chose the smaller of the two, heading right for Yuffie. Acting on reflex, she was able to whip out a shuriken and hit it right through one of its' eyes. It shrieked and dissolved, like all Heartless did when they were killed. With that, the fight began in full swing. Heartless ran everywhere, attempting to sneak up on the two fighters and jump on their backs. Knowing better than to let them have the opportunity to do so, the pair stood back-to-back. Eventually, the Shadows decreased in number and the remaining ones fled, probably thinking to pick their fights more carefully next time.

          Yuffie was scooping up fallen Munny gems from the fight and stuffing them in her pockets whilst Squall gathered himself again. He wasn't injured, just shaken and vexed. The girl looked over her shoulder at him and paused stuffing her pockets.

          "You okay?" She asked.

          "Yea… I'm fine," his voice was steady but his expression was not. Even so, she couldn't really put her finger on what was troubling him so. Once he'd gotten his normal stoic attitude back, he said, "You'd better cut me in for half of that." He directed a nod at the Munny gems that were beginning to fall from her pockets.

          "Of course I—" she paused, staring him in the face. Was that a genuine sparkle in his eye?

          She could only hope.

                                                                                                             ~*~

Short chapter? Yes. Sucky chapter? Slightly. _But—_after this the Squffie fluff starts! Yayy! Anyway—please review and make me feel better since I am still not feeling well and I am really, really gooey. Okay? I'm working on the next chapter pronto, I have just been sick so this one has been delayed by a few days.  


	4. Please See Me

Wowie zowie! I feel so loved with all of these reviews. I just want to apologize now for the shortness of the last chapter—I felt a little rushed and I couldn't really go anywhere with it. The Munny thing has absolutely no significance… well, actually, it _does,_ but it didn't then. It will in this chapter.

Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed. That really makes me happy and keeps me going. I am aiming for this chapter to be longer than the others were, simply because I'm getting warmed up now and because I've _finally_ finished cleaning my room and I have all day with the computer. (Yayy for the VL!)

Here begins the Vulpes Lapis's famous harassments about disclaimers. I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any Squaresoft characters. If I did, you would all be disclaiming them to _me,_ and not Squaresoft, who seems to have a problem with making _one damn game with a happy ending!_ Not that I'm bitter…

                                                                                                              ~*~

"One forty-seven… one forty-eight… one forty-nine… one fifty!" Yuffie finished counting out her share of Munny from the Heartless fight. Since the opponents were only Shadows, their rewards were small. Even so, this was a good chunk of cash for her. She scooped it off of the tabletop and into a clay jar that she kept her Munny in. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Squall polishing the Gunblade and she sighed quietly. He hadn't said a word to her all day since the Heartless fight and she was beginning to wonder if he was thinking of ways to ditch her. Not that she was shadowing him or anything…

          _I need to talk to Aerith,_ she decided, looking away from him. She was fairly certain that her friend was in her room, moping silently about Cloud. It was at this thought that she faltered. Maybe it was best to keep her own problems to herself, since Aerith was so sad about Cloud of late. But then again, the Flower Girl had said it herself that she didn't mind hearing what she had to say, because it got her mind off of things.

          Aerith opened her hotel door at a tap on the door. She smiled when she saw Yuffie standing there, looking a little dirty and a little beaten up. She concluded that she had probably gotten into a fight.

          "Hello, Yuffie," she said softly. "Rough day?"

          "What gave it away?" The ninja grumbled, voice dripping sarcasm. "Can I come in?"

          "Of course," Aerith said, stepping aside and letting her young friend into her room. Yuffie sat down backwards on one of the chairs, crossing her arms over the back and resting her chin on her wrists. Aerith was glaring at her.

          "What?" She asked, looking innocent.

          "Why can't you sit like a lady?"

          She looked down at her seated position. "Ninjas aren't ladies," she retorted. "I gotta talk to you about Squall." She went right to the point.

          "What? Oh, Yuffie, haven't we already been over this? I just feel more comfortable with you rooming with h—"

          "The man is driving me completely insane! Crazy! Nuts! And he calls me a brat. Can you believe that?" She asked, not waiting for an answer. "A brat! Me! I hate his guts and I just wanna strangle him, and… and… and…"

          She looked over at Aerith, who had been listening with an amused grin on her lips. She waited a moment before stating, "And you like him, don't you?"

          Appalled, Yuffie lurched to her feet. "I do _not!"_ She yelled, tripping over the chair and just barely catching herself. "Goddammit, yes I do." She buried her face in her hands. "I don't understand it, either! How do I like him if he drives me so crazy and I hate him so much?"

          "Love works in mysterious ways, Yuffie," Aerith said. Yuffie screwed up her face. When Aerith gave an answer like that, it meant that she herself didn't really know the answer, but she would never really admit it. "You look like you could use some alone time."

          "What I could use is for Squall to notice me."

          "He notices you."

          "Not how I want him to." She sighed. "I dunno, I just think that I'll always be the little annoying kid from Hollow Bastion to him. No way he'll ever see me as anything more than that." She headed for the door. "Thanks for listening, Aerith." With that, she shuffled out of the hotel. She did need some alone time, and the best way to get that was on a nice walk. The First District wasn't particularly crowded today, so she decided that she would stay in it rather than risk getting mobbed by Heartless in the Second or Third Districts.

          The streets were still wet from the earlier rain. She stepped hard in a puddle and made a splash, accidentally getting some of the water on a man who was walking past her. He shot her a vicious glare and gave her a good shove to the side. She stumbled but kept her balance and would have said something entirely rude to him, but by the time she thought of a good insult, he was gone again.

          Soon, she found herself staring at her reflection in a store window. She scowled at it; her hair had not had a good brush in some time, although it was really too short to matter. Her bangs hung over the silvery headband, and her yellow scarf swayed in the breeze. Her shoes were wet and her socks were dirty, and her shorts and halter-top were also dirty. A pouch of shurikens hung from her belt next to her pouch of Munny. In all, her appearance was nothing to look at. It was not wonder Squall never gave her a second glance—she truly wasn't _worth_ a second glance.

          A store bell rang next to her, bringing her back into the present. The shop window she was looking in turned out to be a clothing shop. Perhaps what Aerith had been telling her for the last month was true, and she _was_ overdue for some new clothes. And she _did_ have that Munny in the clay jar in her room, plus what she had from the Heatless fight…

          With that, Yuffie turned tail and made a dash back to the Second District, for the hotel where her money was stored. She reached her balcony breathlessly, swinging effortlessly onto the edge of the upper balcony and into the room. It was empty, which meant Squall had left, but she didn't really care about that right now. She gathered up as much Munny as she thought she might need and scrambled back down the balcony, into the street, and back to the First District in record time. She made it to the clothing shop and leaned on the wall, panting furiously. A passerby or two looked at her strangely, but no one else seemed to notice her. Once her breath was back, she stepped into the shop and looked around.

          She had decided before she even got here that she wanted Squall to notice her and _not_ see her as a kid anymore. That probably meant a skirt. She wrinkled her nose. She never really understood the concept behind a skirt. But she also knew—or she figured, anyway—that Squall would notice her if she wore one. One thing she knew she _wouldn't_ wear was pink. Aerith wore pink, and she thought it to be far too girly. Yellows and greens were more her colors. Earthy colors. She flipped through some skirts, trying to find one that wasn't too girly or, in her opinion, slutty. A denim miniskirt with the ass faded out would make her look like a hooker, and Lord only knew what the perverts in this town would think.

          One skirt caught her eye—a plaid one, but it was simple and classy and it _wasn't pink, so she put it over her shoulder. Next game a sleeveless dark green shirt that matched some of the color in the skirt, a black zip-up sweatshirt, and a pair of tan boots that came nearly to her knees—she was in need of a new pair anyway. The laces on her old shoes were falling apart and the soles were wearing away. In the back of the store, she changed into her new clothes and studied herself in a mirror for a long time._

          She didn't quite know what to make of herself, now. She was standing there, looking at herself in a mirror, but it didn't look like herself looking back. The girl looking back was standing there in a tan-black-and-green plaid skirt and a sleeveless shirt and an open sweatshirt. She spun around slowly, and a small smile spread over her face. She decided that she _liked_ the way this looked. Even if she _was dressed like a girl for the first in a very long time. Aerith would see her and have a heart attack. Cid would burst out laughing, and she didn't know what would happen if Sora saw her dressed like this, but none of __them really mattered to her. She only cared of what Squall thought of her. She hoped that he wouldn't think she'd lost her marbles or something._

          Outside in the cool, late-autumn weather, she decided that she would take a walk, mostly in hopes of locating Squall. As she went, she noticed with a sudden swell of pride that people—guys—were watching her as she walked.

          _Checkin' me out, she thought humorously. She couldn't say she didn't like the attention… now if only Squall would react the same; she would be one happy camper._

          Pushing the heavy doors to the Second District open, she carefully took a look around to see if anyone—or any_thing—was there. The coast was clear, so she stepped in and let the big doors close behind her. She took a deep breath and exhaled through her mouth, noticing that her breath nearly formed a cloud in the air. Well, it was that time of the year again… Yuffie snorted softly and pulled her backpack back up onto her shoulder. It contained her old clothes, ones she _didn't_ want to carry around in her arms all over the place. The backpack, she decided, had been a wise choice to bring along._

          Her footsteps echoed in the empty District, making a steady _clip-clop_ as she walked. She liked the way it sounded—grown-up. She purposely dragged her heels a little to make the sound louder, not stopping to think that maybe the sound would attract Heartless. [A/N: …Or am I the only person who does that when I wear boots?]

          She made it to the edge of the Second District, and pushed open the doors into the Third. This was her favorite of all the Districts. It was small, with a huge, open space in the center that made for a nice place to spar when the Heartless weren't around, but also a very nice place for Defenders and Darkballs to congregate, so her sentiments were mixed. Right now, it seemed, there were no Heatless about. Sora must have been able to keep them at bay—for a while, anyway. Good for him. Yuffie made a mental note to thank him for it the next opportunity she got.

          She was halfway through the wide space in the center of the District when she heard a very heavy metallic _clank on the stone ground, and every muscle in her body tensed. She was pretty sure she knew what this was… and this time, it __wasn't Squall._

          The Defender came walking slowly down the ramp opposite her, looking from side to side and shifting the position of its' enormous shield. Maybe it didn't see her. Maybe it _wouldn't see her. Maybe it would just walk away. Maybe she would be all right. And maybe all of the birds would drop into the Waterway and fish would fly over the buildings instead. Yuffie knew it was pointless to hope. Defenders could smell fear, and she knew full well she was dripping with it._

          Hands shaking, she fumbled for a shuriken. She tried to unhook one from her belt, but it cut her hand with one of the points and she yelped, dropping it. It clattered to the ground, and that was enough to get the big, dumb creature's attention. The Defender turned toward her, and her terrified eyes were locked onto the red gem "eyes" of its' shield. Mentally slapping herself, she frowned. She would have to get herself together. She had fought Defenders before! She had the edge of speed on them—they were just another Heartless! But then… she had always fought them with Squall right there in case something bad happened to her…

          Red gems glowed white-hot, and before she knew what had happened, the monster fired a pair of spiraling fireballs at her. She threw herself to the ground and it hit the wall behind her, making the stone crack. She looked up just in time to see a second set of fireballs come at her; she covered her eyes, and she heard a loud yell, a metallic _kang and the skidding of leather boots on stone ground._

          Squall had come to her rescue, though from where she couldn't begin to guess. His blocking the fireball had sent it heading right back to its' creator, temporarily stunning it. He went up behind it and began to beat it furiously with his sword from behind, on its' back where it was unprotected. After composing herself, Yuffie lurched to her feet and joined the fight, whipping shurikens at the Defender until the thing collapsed into a heap and became a pile of Munny gems.

          "Are you okay?" A deep voice broke her thoughts and she looked towards Squall, who was standing near her and walking closer. He looked stoic, as usual. She just wished that she could read his eyes… She wanted to know what he thought of her, now.

          "Y-yea. I'm fine," she said after a beat.

          "C'mon, I gotta walk you back to the hotel. Aerith says the Heatless are comin' back out again and she's a damn nervous wreck," Squall said, reaching out a hand to her. This confused Yuffie some. He would _willingly_ let her touch him? This was weird… but she took it anyway.

          Neither said a word on the way to the hotel. It wasn't until they got to the lobby that Yuffie remembered her manners and got up the nerve to do something.

          "Squall?" She asked in an uncharacteristically timid voice. He glanced down at her and she quickly stood on her toes and pecked him on the cheek, feeling her cheeks and lips burn from embarrassment as she did so. "Thank you," she whispered.

                                                                                                              ~*~

A _much longer and _much_ nicer chapter if I do say so myself. Squffiness has begun, and it will become thicker. Yea, I know, you've heard that song before, but this time I mean it! I have a date for them planned out and Squall is gonna go talk to Aerith because he's startin' to fall for this obnoxious little ninja girl that he _thought_ he utterly despised. Ironies are so great, aren't they? *smile, smile; giggle, giggle* And in case you didn't notice, the Munny from the Shadow Heartless was kinda what got the Squffie going because she used it on a skirt to make him notice her. *shrugs* Somethin' unorthodox I guess. Please review!      _


	5. Dreams and Reality

Well, since I have nothing else to do right now, I think I'll get this chapter on the road! Some of it is written down on bits of paper that I did at school… most if it is still in the ol' noodle, though. Not that it matter 'cuz I lost the friggen papers! Also posted is my FFX fic, "Velveteen Dreams." Just in case you wanna know. Okay, okay, okay… I know what you want now. Shut up and write, VL…

Yes, I own Kingdom Hearts, Squaresoft, and all characters used therein. Squaresoft and Disney paid _me_ to use them. That is why I live in this dumbass suburban neighborhood and am eating store-brand candy and have a job at Target. *rolls eyes*

                                                                                                             ~*~

"For all it's worth, I think you would make a really cute couple," Aerith told Squall. He had come to her for advice because he couldn't get Yuffie off of his mind and it was driving him stark raving mad. Aerith, however, was having a grand time with him, and she wished that she could help the two get together, but the ninja had made her swear that she wouldn't tell anyone. She wanted her to swear it in blood, but that was asking a little too much—even for Yuffie.

          "Shut up, that is _not_ what I came here for!" He hissed, turning and pacing the length of the room. Aerith sat quietly with her hands in her lap, following him with her eyes.

          "Well, it seems to me that if she's constantly on your mind that you perhaps have feelings for her beyond friendship."

          "There's no friendship between us, Aerith," he said quietly, as if he was afraid that Yuffie would overhear him. "There's a mutual tolerance. She drives me insane and I know she can't stand me."

          "Well, then, Doctor Bedside Manor, how do you account for her kissing you in the lobby, hm?" She had her hands on her hips. When Squall's eyes went wide, as if he was in a panic.

          "You _saw that?"_ He hissed. Not that _he_ hadn't liked it, but Aerith had seen it. Now she would probably start knitting little things for him and Yuffie. This was giving him a headache, and he went to sit down in one of the chairs in the middle of the room, missing it entirely and sitting on the floor.

          "Yes, I saw that," Aerith replied, managing to keep her face straight even after Squall fell on the floor. "Nothing to be ashamed of. Look, there's really nothing that I can help you with so if you want to figured all of this out, it might be best if you tried to do this yourself."

          "What, prey-tell, do I have to do?" He asked in a dangerously sweet voice.

          "Not sure of that either."

          "Well, thanks a _lot!"_ He hollered, throwing his hands into the air in defeat and leaving the room. He peeked into his own room to find Yuffie curled up like a cat on the bed, fast asleep. She probably hadn't worn short skirts before because her legs were curled up and the back of the garment was riding up her behind. He made himself look away and close the door. He decided then and there that he needed a walk.

          It was nice out, albeit a little breezy. He was walking with the wind, so it kept blowing his hair from behind his ears right into his face. He scuffed his feet on the ground trying to decide where he wanted to go. If he wanted to be safe, he should go to the First District, where there were no Heartless. But he wanted to be _alone,_ so he decided to stay in the Second or perhaps venture out into the Third. The only Heartless the dwelled right near the hotel were small, annoying ones, which were easily ignored, or the big, stupid ones, which were easy to get away from. A few Blue Rhapsodies flittered overhead, leaving blue sparks overhead. When not provoked, these tiny Heartless were almost like birds. They were just… there. He jogged away when one of them got a little _too_ curious about him and slowed his pace to a walk again when he got down to the few shops that lined the road.

          Yuffie crawled back onto his mind again. Why was he thinking about her? Why was she on his mind? He'd never thought of her as anything more than his fighting partner before. But now… when had she grown up? When had she become a woman, instead of the little ninja who used to wake him up as soon as he had fallen asleep and annoy him constantly? He shook his head.

          In her room, Yuffie's thoughts shifted to Squall. She showered quickly, and dressed in her regular clothes again. She had to see Aerith. The Flower Girl was not in her room nor was she anywhere else in the hotel. She finally found her in the Café in the First District.

          "What do you need, Yuffie?" She asked gently in the older-sister type of voice.

          "Squall," she replied without thinking. She immediately clamped her hands on her mouth. "I mean—oh, the hell with it. Aerith, will he _ever_ think of me as a possible lover? Hell, if I said out loud the things I wanna do with him I'd make your bloody ears fall off!"

          "Did you just say 'bloody'?" Aerith smirked.

          "Shut up. I need some help. I wanna get his attention, and you can sneak into heads better than I can so tell me, dammit, how do I do it?"

          "I thought you hated him."

          "I _do_ hate him—that's part of my problem!" She groaned and sat down. "I hate him, I love him, I wanna kill him, I wanna sleep with him… you may not be the person to ask but the only other person I know is Cid and I don't wanna think of doing that."

          "Okay, okay… please try to calm down, Yuffie."

          "Okay. I'm calm."

          "Now, just try talking to him. You'd be surprised. He'll listen but you have to be mature about it. He likes you, Yuffie. He does. He just doesn't show it as blatantly as other people do." She trailed off, staring into space with a pale face. Yuffie knew she was thinking about Cloud again.

          "I suppose I could try."

          "Go on," Aerith said. "Try it. You'd be surprised. Just don't do anything… stupid."

          "Thanks," Yuffie rolled her eyes. She made her way back to the Second District to look for Squall, hoping that he'd be there somewhere. The Waterway was his hangout place. He trained there all the time, so she decided to look there first. She saw him swinging the Gunblade gracefully, moving his feet and hands with the ease of practice. She felt her heart speed up and she sighed softly, not making a sound. He was so wrapped up in what he was doing that he hadn't noticed that she was there. She admired the way he moved for a while, until…

          "Yuffie."

          She jumped. When had he walked up that close to her? He was ten yards away a few minutes ago!

          "Yuffie," this time he whispered her name, softly in her ear. He;d dropped his weapon on the ground; she heard it clatter to the floor. A hand slid up her back, wound in her hair; the other rested on her hip, and he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. When he backed away, she squeaked.

          "Squall, what was that?"

          "You need me to do it again?" He asked, the smallest smirk appearing on his face.

          "Oh, God, yes," she whispered, collapsing into his chest and kissing him first this time. What happened next happened in a blur and the next she knew she was on the ground, half undressed—

          "Yuffie!" Squall's voice was desperate-sounding. "Yuffie! Where are you?"

          Yuffie snapped upright. She was curled up on the ground—she must have fallen asleep. It was just a dream… Squall never kissed her. Squall wouldn't ever kiss her. She stood upright and looked around, eyes wide with fear. The Heartless were gathered around the mouth of the Waterway.

          "Squall?" She squeaked, hoping that he would hear her. She could deal with Heartless, but there were probably twenty, thirty, maybe even _forty_ monsters waiting for her to make a dumb move so they could pounce on her.

          "Yuffie, where are you?" His voice came from somewhere behind the crowd of Heartless monsters. There was then some grunting and the sound of metal on flesh as Squall chopped his way through the creatures to get to the Waterway and find her. Yuffie's brain finally began to function again and, with shaking hands, she whipped her shurikens around, slicing many monsters but every time she cleared a space, more of them just took the places. She began to back up against the back of the cave, out of ammunition. She _knew_ she should have taken more with her but she didn't do it because she didn't want to go back into her room to get it in her anxiousness to talk to Squall.

          "Squall!" She yelled as loudly as she could. "Squall, I'm back in here. Where are you? Please!"

          A bluish glow swung in a wide arc, eliminating most of the monsters and scattering the rest. A dark, ominous figure entered the Waterway, and Yuffie was never happier to see him.

          "Yuffie!" He jogged to meet her halfway as the Gunblade returned to its' normal state. "Hey, you okay?" He asked, uncharacteristically concerned with her. "I was worried. Lucky these Heartless can't swim or they'd've gotten you."

          Yuffie nodded wordlessly. Squall lent a hand to help her up. She stared into his eyes for the longest time before his cool-hearted demeanor came back.

          "Should've been more careful though," he growled. "I won't _always_ be here to protect you!"

          Yuffie's face creased. "Squall! Why are you like this?" She yelled, shoving him, but he only moved an inch. "I'm not helpless! I fell asleep! Okay, it was a dumb thing, but I'm not helpless! I can defend myself and I can fight just as well as you can and I hate it when you say stuff like this—" she screeched and hit his chest with her fist. Then again. And again. She pounded on his chest with her fists until he grabbed both of her hands by the wrists and held her still.

          "Stop it, Yuffie," he growled.

          "No!" She tugged her hands free and moved to hit him a second time but he grabbed both of her hands again and held them behind her back. This made him crush his body against hers, looking down at her with his hair screening his eyes. She was panting and so was he.

          "Yuffie, don't push your luck."

          "Why?"

          "Because you might force me to silence you quick… my best thinking is not when I am rushed," he said, thought there was a seductive sort of note in his voice.

          "Too damn bad—"

          He silenced her quickly with a kiss. He crushed their mouths together, pulling her closer to him and keeping a grip on her wrists.

          "Squall!" She managed to push herself away. "What are you doing?" She asked, shaking her head to clear it. He snorted and reached a hand out to her.

          "Come back to the hotel with me."

          "Please tell me you don't mean what I think you mean by that."

          "I don't. Come back with me before Aerith has a cow."

          She nodded taking his hand. He kept it until they reached the mouth of the Waterway, where he dropped her hand and forged ahead in front of her as if making sure that it was okay for her to walk the streets.

          When they were inside, Yuffie plopped down in a chair and put her head on her hands on the back of it. She watched Squall without moving her head, and he didn't look her way. Maybe he was regretting what he had done in the Waterway. Maybe he wasn't. Maybe… who knew? Tomorrow was another day, and there was no telling what it would bring.

                                                                                                             ~*~

WOW. I finished this chapter! Here's my excuse for having it up late: I lost the handwritten version, I had writer's block, a trip to Georgia, school, and exams are in two weeks. After that, though, there's a few days off of school and I can write then. If my muse decides to work on this story. Right now it wants to work on "Not What It Appears." Ah well. Please review—reviews=chapters!!!!!!!!!!   


	6. Fearlessness

Oh, my gosh. You guys I am so very sorry that I haven't updated in nearly a _month!_ My muse seems to be concentrating on my Final Fantasy X story, and leaving me on my own with this one! *sobs* But I am _determined_ to finish this story, so I'm gonna give a shot at it by myself, _without_ my muse. Although I think my muse is in front of my PS2 right now, playing my new Final Fantasy IX, and squealing, "Vivi! Vivi!" Whenever Vivi pops onto the screen. (I love Vivi. I don't know why…) Okay, I'll shut up now and start writing. Today is January 26, but I dunno when I'm'a get finished with this thing… if I finish it today, though, it's gonna be short.

Disclaimer: I disclaim any injury you might have sustained by not yet realizing that the VL does not own anything used in this story. Now _buzz off!_

                                                                                                          ~*~

Yuffie grunted as she repeatedly attacked the punching bag suspended from the ceiling in the back of Cid's workshop. She had no idea why Cid kept something like this around—he would never use it because he was so worn out from age, and from nearly thirty years worth of cigarettes in his lungs. Nonetheless, Yuffie liked to harass the lifeless thing, pretending that it was a Heartless or, perhaps, Squall.

          She couldn't help being angry. Why was she so helpless around the Heartless lately? Squall had had to come to her rescue; humiliating. Of course, one person against a Defender Heartless, no matter _who_ the person was, would be an unfair fight in favor if the Defender. There was no question about her needing help there. And she had been outright stupid not to grab more ammunition when she left the hotel yesterday. _Still!_ Why Squall, of all people?

          Yuffie hit the thing again, this time with her foot. Unfortunately, the punching bag had just about had enough abuse, and the ropes suspending it from the ceiling gave way, dumping it to the floor and knocking her over.

          Yuffie growled at the sand-filled bag. She felt like mauling it like an animal. She wanted to attack something. Hurt something. She was angry, and she didn't even really know at _what._ She just wanted to win a battle. Grabbing every bit of ammunition she could find, and two daggers, she headed out through the roof of Cid's shop, hopping across the rooftops like a big cat, into the Third District where she could fight Darkballs and Defenders. They would put up a good fight, and that's what she wanted.

          A few Darkballs heard her coming, and a Defender, too, decided that this skinny little female ninja would make for an easy fight. Practically drunk off of rage, Yuffie sliced through all of them easily, before the Defenders were even powered up enough to attack with their fire-eyed shields. Sweat dripped dangerously close to her eyes, but she shook it away, throwing shuriken after shuriken at the Heartless monsters, striking them down, until they exploded into piles of MP bubbles, HP balls, or Munny gems of various sizes.

          She wasn't sure how long she had been out there for, nor was she sure of how many monsters she had killed. But finally, they stopped reappearing. The Darkballs, Soldiers, and Defenders were all gone, and would not return again for at least a day. She plopped onto the ground after she picked up all of her shurikens as wells as the dropped Munny gems, and tossed an MP bubble around like a little kid might play with a balloon.

          "No Heartless here today, huh?" Squall asked. He had his Gunblade with him, obviously thinking to let off some steam on the Heartless.

          "What's it to ya?" She spat venomously.

          "Hey, no need to shout."

          "I wasn't shouting," Yuffie replied shortly.

          "Are you okay, Yuffie?" Squall tilted his head to one side. "You've been acting awfully strange lately."

          "What's 'strange' to you?"

          "I mean you've been acting… well… like me."

          "And?"

          "That's the last thing this world needs. Two of me. Whatever happened to the Yuffie I liked? Where'd she go?" He squatted on the ground near her. He saw her head turn very slowly towards him, eyes narrowed and looking quite confused.

          "You liked a certain little perky ninja called Yuffie?"

          There was a very long pause and Yuffie was afraid that she had pressed her luck. Fortunately, Squall answered simply, "Yes. Still do."

          "Well, perky-little-ninja-girl-Yuffie always thought that Squall would never like her, and it made her real mad. Then she realized that he would never like her the way she liked him, and she figured that she would go pulverize Heartless until she dropped from exhaustion."

          "Stop speaking in third per—" he stopped talking. Did she just say that she liked him? He felt like he was in a very dramatized version of the ninth grade. This person likes this person, who likes this other person, who sort of likes that person but likes this person better—and so on and so forth.

          Yuffie was unsure if she was dreaming or if this was real life, but she decided to take a chance with it anyway. She felt lightheaded, as if in a trance. She felt unafraid, as if anything that happened wouldn't hurt her in the slightest. She began to walk closer to him.

          "Yes," she said, unafraid. "I always think about you. You're on my mind constantly, you are invading my dreams, you are invading my heart." As she got closer, she noticed that he was beginning to back up. She got up on a bench so that she would have the advantage of height over him. "I can't get you out of my head. I'm attracted to you, I can't help it, and… damn you, come here." Still unafraid and in her trance-like state, Yuffie took him by his jacket collar and kissed him. The tables seemed to have turned. Squall was wide-eyed and frightened, and Yuffie was calm and collected.

          "Yuffie, what's wrong with you?" Squall managed to ask after the ninja released him from her lip-lock. Her eyes were half-lidded and her breathing was shallow.

          "Squall, I… am hopelessly in love with you." She breathed, looking down but still keeping one arm over his shoulder. "I always thought that you just didn't want me around. I figured you thought I was just a little annoying kid."

          Squall wanted to assure her that he _didn't_ think that, but the words would not form and he could not get the words out. Instead he stayed quiet. He saw Yuffie shaking her head with her hands over her eyes, like she was tired, or just waking up from a nap.

          "This isn't a dream, is it?" She asked, lowering her hands slowly. She seemed more like herself now, but he was still skeptical.

          "No…" he trailed off. "Why?"

          She poked him in the chest experimentally to see if he was, indeed, solid. "Did I just do what I think I just did?"

          "What do you think you just did?"

          "I think I just kissed you." She glanced at him with a red stain now on her cheeks, awaiting an answer. She really didn't know what she would do either way; if he said that she _had_ just kissed him, things between them would be different, and probably far more awkward. If he said that she _hadn't,_ then… things would be awkward _still,_ and the memory would haunt her for months.

          "Yea. You did."

          Typical Squall: give as best of an answer as you can with the fewest amount of words.

          "I can tell you a secret though," he offered mischievously.

          "What kind of a secret?" Yuffie asked, lowering herself to sit on the bench instead of standing up on it. He leaned toward her.

          "I liked it."

                                                                                                              ~*~

Whoo… okay, I think that this chapter sucked, but I hadda started the "love" part of this love-hate relationship _somewhere,_ and here it is. I still don't like this chapter. Maybe you think differently? I dunno. Drop a review and let me know. Oh, and I think I have to tell you guys now that updates won't be real often until after "Meets The Eye, Meets The Heart" is done. But at the rate I'm going with that one, it won't be that long. I'm really sorry! But… you know, reviews _do_ encourage chapters!!  


	7. Is This For Real?

Do you guys hate me yet? I hope not. Please don't be mad but I have had absolutely no ideas for this story, and I've had a lot going on and I've been working on my Final Fantasy X story, so this one has been kinda… in the backseat somewhere. But Deplora threatened not to post any more chapters until I started to write more of this story. (Which I command all of you to read if you want a good Squffie. It's called "These Are Thee Days.") So I write. Hope you guys are happy! Oh, and to be warned, there's some fairly racy stuff in this chapter. Nothing to boost the rating but _definitely_ make  sure that all males and all young children (say under the age of eleven) are out of the room.

No more disclaimers for me! I have stolen all of the characters from the Squaresoft database and they are now in my possession. Mostly I just use Riku for my own personal… things… hehehe.

                                                                                                             ~*~

Squall paced nervously in the hotel lobby, wearing down the carpet. He knew that Yuffie was in their room and that he would have to go in eventually, but things between them were getting steadily more awkward since she had kissed him a few days ago, and he had admitted outright to her that he liked it. What was brewing here? He's been sleeping on a sofa in Cid's shop for the last several nights because he didn't want to have to face Yuffie but sleeping on a sofa was keeping him from precious sleep, and he decided, reluctantly, that he would just have to go back to sharing a room—and a bed—with Yuffie.

          A clock on the wall chimed at twelve-thirty. He thought—or maybe he desperately _hoped_—that Yuffie was sleeping by then, so he carefully and quietly unlocked the door to their room and crept inside.

          It was pitch-black. He could barely see a think and he hoped that he wouldn't trip on anything or knock anything over in the process of getting from the door to the bed. About halfway there he figured that he was doing fairly well. It must have jinxed his luck, because no sooner did her finish the thought did he smash his shins on a chair and fall over it with a very loud thud. A light in the corner turned on and Yuffie sleepily sat up and look at him, tangled up in a chair and trying to maintain his dignity.

          "Squall?" She asked. "What happened to _you?"_

          "I fell," he snapped. She cowered a little bit at his tone and he immediately apologized. He didn't even know _why_ he was apologizing to her—he wasn't _supposed _to like her, was he? No, he was supposed to merely tolerate her until the Heartless cleared up and everything could go back to normal. Or as normal as anything in his life would ever be.

          "What are you doing in here so late?" She asked, scooting over in bed to make room for him. "And where have you been the last few days? I've been worried."

          "Out."

          "No you haven't been," she sat upright completely and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why won't you tell me the truth? It's not like I'll be angry."

          "It's none of _your _business!" He snapped. Why was she always so nosy? But… it _was_ her business. It _was_ about her. "Just move over and let me sleep."

          "Squall?"

          "Leon."

          She took his comment as meaning that he'd heard her. "I _am_ moved over."

          He sighed and climbed in next to her, pulling off his shirt and tossing it across the room. It landed on the clock on the wall. He reached over and grabbed the blankets from here she had been hoarding them and uncovered most of her, revealing her choice of pajamas: underwear and a tank top. He nearly swallowed his tongue, hoping that nothing would solidify under the blankets.

          "Y-Yuffie," he stammered. "Go put some pants on!"

          "Why?" She asked. "It's not like you've never seen bare legs before." She rolled over and shut off the light. Honestly. He was so immature about some things.

          "Yuffie—"

          "Squall!" Yuffie said, exasperated. "They're just my _legs!_ It's not like I'm flashing or anything! They're _legs!_ I have a pair, Aerith has a pair, and, yes, even _you_ have a pair of them, granted they're a lot hairier than mine or Aerith's."

          Squall blinked. Did she just get the best of him _again?_ This really wasn't his week. Or maybe it was. He lay back down, remembering Yuffie's candid kiss from standing on a bench as he fell into sleep.

~~~

Vines grew all over the room, covering the walls and most of the furniture. The ceiling was gone, allowing sunlight to bathe the now-overgrown hotel room. Ivy, flowers, and a very tall tree grew inside Squall's hotel room, leaving him in the shade.

          _"What the hell happened here?" He asked. He looked for Yuffie, only to find the right side of the bed empty. "Yuffie?" He found himself worried, now. If the entire ceiling of the room was missing, maybe something evil had come into the room in the middle of the night and eaten her, or taken her away, or—_

_          "I'm right here," she murmured. Squall turned his head towards the foot of the bed where he _swore_ that Yuffie was not standing a moment ago. Actually, she was on one hip on the floor, holding her upper body up with her hands and looking slyly at him through half-closed eyes. She still wore her underwear and tank-top._

_          "Wait… you weren't there a minute ago, were you?" He asked, confused. She merely smiled seductively._

_          "Maybe you weren't looking hard enough," she said in a low voice. She crawled closer, a sinister grin sitting on her lips. Squall moved backwards as she moved forward until he collided with the wall behind him, eyes wide. What was she playing at?_

_          "What's with _you?"_ He asked, trying to deter her from him. It wasn't working and he was out of room to run._

_          "What's wrong, Squall?" She asked. "Are you afraid?"_

_          "Afraid?" He snapped back. "Afraid of what? Of you? No! You're just…" he couldn't find a phrase. He was stopped from having to find a phrase when Yuffie's lips came crashing down on his. He made an uncharacteristic squeaky noise before leaning into the kiss, resigned to his fate and really not minding._

_          In a moment he felt her hands gliding across his chest, stomach, shoulders, and back. What was she _thinking?_ Was she thinking at all? He soon figured out that he didn't really care what was happening, because he liked it. A lot. In the blink of an eye, clothing was discarded and the room was filled with whimpers and groans…_

~~~

Squall lurched awake, sitting upright in bed. It was probably morning, because Yuffie was out of her side of the bed and the light was on in the bathroom. He shifted somewhat, and to his utter horror, he felt something wet and sticky underneath his thighs. His eyes clenched shut and he turned such a vibrant shade of red.

          _Why now?_ He wondered. He thought that these "soggy dreams" were supposed to stop after the teenage years. Apparently whoever had told him was mistaken, and his assumptions were wrong. Great. He grabbed his pants and put them on underneath the blankets so that he wouldn't have to walk around with this mess all over him. Once up and out of bed, he gathered up the sheets and threw them into a basket that the housekeeping maid collected twice a week. He turned to see Yuffie standing in the doorway of the bathroom, leaning on the wooden molding with one arm and brushing her teeth with her other hand. She was wearing her usual choice of clothing—the green haltar-top and the shorts and the wocks that came way up her thighs.

          "What're you staring at?" He snapped.

          "Why'd you strip the bed?" She asked casually.

          "The crud leftover from all of your midnight snacks is starting to migrate," he lied expertly. It was partially true—there were a few crumbs mixed in with those sheets.

          "Sorry that I happen to get the munchies in the middle of the night!" Yuffie took the toothbrush out of her mouth and spat in the sink, finishing up her morning routine.

          "Eat 'em somewhere else, okay?" He didn't feel much like arguing with her—and the details of his dream were still fresh in his mind, and he desperately needed to get them _out_ of his mind, lest his body react to it.

          He kicked Yuffie out of the bathroom so that he could clean up and dress, and when he came out she was sitting on the table in the middle of the room. He went to get his belts, his weapon, and his boots, and while Yuffie's didn't move at all, her eyes followed him. Her eyes were unreadable but she was thinking of _something._ He tried his best to ignore her as he slid his boots on and attached his weapon to his belt.

          "Hey Squall?"

          "Leon."

          Eyes rolled. "Do you want to come on a walk with me?" She ask, all sweetness and innocence.

          He turned, eyeing her suspiciously. It wasn't really _her_ that he was afraid of. It was his thoughts, mixed with the details of last nights' dream. What scared him the most was realizing exactly _how much_ he wanted that dream to enact itself. But a walk was perfectly innocent. Nothing could go wrong.

          …could it?

                                                                                                             ~*~

I know, I know, I know. Bad, bad, bad VL. I left you at a cliffy again, but at least I know what's gonna happen next chapter, courtesy of Deplora. (I owe you one!) So I'll start on it tomorrow or maybe the day after. I'm catching something so I don't feel 100% right now. Anyway. Please drop me a review. This chapter wasn't the best, and I think I'm slipping somewhat, but please try to bear with me until my mused comes back. You know I love you guys!  


	8. We're The Same

Wow, you guys probably hate me right now. I've kept you hanging by your feet from the last chapter and Squall's wet dream and the walk and all, but I've been caught up with my Final Fantasy X story, a kidney stone, and writer's block for this ficcie, but with the help of my lovely, Squall-craving assistant Deplora, I am back on my feet and ready to write! All of you go read and review her stories. They are way awesome! Special thanks and much praise goes to her for sort of badgering me into writing more. I'm glad she did, too. I almost forgot about this fic completely.

I got this little idea in my head, which you will find out soon, from a movie called "Moonstruck." Any Italian should watch that movie. It's very good, very funny, and romantic to boot. Muahah!

Yes, I own Kingdom Hearts. I won it in a poker game three weeks ago. Ya happy? It was a strip poker game and the deed to the characters just happened to be in the pocket of someone's pants. All right, all right, I'm going!

                                                                                                    ~*~

They walked in silence. Yuffie was trapped in her own thought and Squall in his own embarrassment. Housekeeping in the hotel already thought that there was something going on between him and Yuffie, and the stain in the sheets was just going to make it worse. He sighed heavily, shuffling his feet on the ground and then kicking an old can hard enough to send it clattering into an alley. He stole a sidelong glance at Yuffie, but she was staring up at the sky and had stopped walking.

          "What _are_ you looking at?" He demanded. He noted the dreamy look on her face and felt his own face soften in response to it. She looked peaceful, and faraway. As long as she had this childish wonder, she would quickly forget all prospects of future dangers. It was something he envied about her.

          "The moon, Squall," she said softly, tilting her head to one side and sighing with a half-smile on her lips. "It's so beautiful. And it's huge. As big as a house. I've never seen a moon like that before." The light of the huge, full moon rising above the buildings reflected off of her dark eyes. Then she looked at him and the light of the moon only lit one side of her face. "Don't you ever notice things like that? Or are you so off in your own little hellhole of a world that you don't notice anything beautiful anymore?"

          He nearly let slip the words, "I've noticed you," but he caught himself before he did say anything. Instead, he just looked up into the sky at the moon. It reminded him of times long past.

          "Squall?" She asked, placing her hand gently on his arm.

          "I suppose sometimes I do. I just don't have a childish fascination with the stars and the moon anymore. Especially since I realized that the stars are worlds, and the worlds are disappearing. It's depressing to look up at the sky, night after night, and see fewer and fewer stars. It means the Heartless are winning. I'd rather not think of that."

          "Then don't think of it like that," she suggested. When he looked at her strangely, she elaborated. "Well, when you take something scary like that, and try to think of it another way, it makes it seem less scary. Like thunder and lightning. I always try to imagine it as the gods are shooting off fireworks for something, and it makes it less frightening," she told him.

          "But thunderstorms can't hurt you," he pointed out. "Not really. The chances of it are so slim. But this… this is serious. This is something that can change the course of history forever. At times like this, it's best to make sure that you know what goes on or before you know it, you'll be faced with it and not know what to do about it." He sighed, staring into the dark with troubled eyes. "Ignorance is bliss, but ignorance can also mean death."

          Yuffie sighed again. He was right and she knew it. She hated it when he was right about things like this. But she liked to forget. Even just for a little while, she was happy to forget about the dangers of her current position. She liked to forget where she was, and what could happen to her, and act the maturity of all of her sixteen years of age. But it never lasted long. Just as soon as she was smiling again, they would get word from someone that the Heartless were coming back and they needed for take up arms and fight or be killed. But for a little while, she could at least pretend that everything was all right.

          "I hate it when you're right," she told him. She thrust her hands into her pockets and walked forward slowly, staring down at the damp ground.

          Squall suddenly felt bad about what he'd said. He knew just as well as Yuffie did that he was right, but that didn't mean he liked it any more than she did. In fact, he was glad that she could sometimes forget what kind of danger they were in constantly. He took a few quick steps to catch up with her.

          "Sorry I brought it up. I guess it just… slipped," he said as a kind of an apology.

          She shrugged and forced a smile. "It's okay. Sometimes I could use a good slap back into reality."

          Squall didn't argue with that logic.

          "Squall?"

          "Leon."

          She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to five to stop herself from yelling at him for his name games. Then she spoke, hesitantly at first, not knowing how he would react to the question she was about to ask. It was a sensitive topic for both of them, "Do you… remember anything? About Hollow Bastion? You know, before the Heartless came?" She carefully took a few steps away from him and was prepared to make a run for it if he got angry at her for asking. But he didn't. Instead, he got the same far-off look in his face that she got when she remembered the past.

          "Some," he admitted. "Bits and pieces up… up until the end." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Mostly I remember people. I remember doing things with some people. I remember talking to them and I remember what we said, but I can't remember their faces or hear their voices. I remember a little bit, but I've worked so hard to forget my failure that I've also forgotten my friends."

          That was the most he'd ever said to her aside from a plan of action in a battle. "I hardly remember anything at all," Yuffie admitted slowly. "You remember anyone specifically?"

          "Yes."

          "Who is it?"

          Here he paused. "A girl," he said simply.

          "Who?" She was playing with fire now, and she knew it, but she wanted to know. She wanted to get inside of his head and understand what he was talking about.

          "Just a girl, okay, Yuffie?" Now he was beginning to heat up. He didn't want her to learn what was going on inside his head because he was afraid of what might happen. "Woman, really. She… I… we… oh, never mind."

          "No, don't 'never mind' me!" She ran and stood in front of him. "Tell me. I won't tell a soul. You can trust me, Squall."

          "Leon!" He hissed. He began to walk quickly away from her and back to the hotel. They'd been walking so slowly and stopping so it was only about two hundred yards away from them.

          "And why'd you change your name, huh?" Yuffie was now working in a danger zone, but she was operating on the theory that if she got him angry, he'd spill the beans. She didn't know if she'd survive to help him, but she thought he might spill.

          "Go away, Yuffie! Just… just go the hell away! Okay?"

          She ran to catch up, standing in front of him so that he couldn't get through the door into the hotel. "No," she said blatantly. "I'm not gonna stop until you tell me." To her shock, he grabbed her shoulder and shoved her aside, walking swiftly through the door. She squeezed through behind him and followed. She followed him all the way back to their room.

          "Leave me alone," he said in a dark, murderous voice.

          She noticed he had his hands over his eyes. "What was her name?" She asked softly, keeping her distance.

          "Rinoa."

          "Did you love her?"

          "I did."

          Silence. She grew angry at him, suddenly. He was wallowing in self-pity over something that happened years ago. Over something they had no control over. Over something that they had in _common._ The more she thought of it, the more she realized how crazy this was. They were in the same place. She had lost her home, too! She'd lost her parents. Her friends. She was young and had very few memories of them. Like him should could no longer picture their faces nor duplicate their voices.

          "Look at you," she said. "You're pathetic. You think I'm not sad about it?" She walked around the table in the middle of the room to get to him, sitting on the edge of their bed. "You think I don't wish things were different? At least you could do something. I was helpless. All I could do was sit there. I didn't understand what was going on. But you… you could fight back. Why are you wallowing in your own self-pity? You're overacting. Changing your name won't help, either. I know who you really are. You're just feeling sorry for yourself!"

          He stood up, closing the distance between them and staring her down and immediately she wished that she had just kept her big mouth shut.

          "You _don't_ get it!" Squall yelled. "You were too young to remember but I remember, and I don't like what I remember! I just remember people screaming and she _begged_ me to help her. She _begged_ me to save her but I wasn't fast enough. No, _Squall_ wasn't fast enough. Wasn't strong enough!" He shoved her, making her stumble to the ground. She immediately got up and backed against what she hoped was the door, and ended up being a corner.

          "Sq-Leon…" she corrected herself, not watching to anger him while she was cornered. "Please. I'm sorry. It's just that—" she bumped into the wall and words left her body. Her mouth dropped a little as she felt the solid wall behind her with no escape in sight and her weapons on the table ten feet away, and Squall closing in on her. The look in his eye was the look of a madman. He was going to go stark raving mad.

          "Not so tough now, are you?" He asked, beginning to breathe heavy. She could swear that she saw _fire_ burning in his eyes. He shoved a chair out of his way. It slid across the floor and into a wall, breaking on contact. Yuffie swallowed hard. This was it. She was going to die with him hating her. He'd never know, would he? That she loved him…

          "Please," she begged in an uncharacteristically tiny voice. She closed her eyes and waited. And to her utter shock, his lips crashed on hers. He had one hand on either side of her, so there was no escape, and he was bearing down on her with his mouth on hers…

          She had to stoop a little to detach herself and get some air. She stared into his lusty, half-lidded eyes, looped her arms around his neck, and kissed him again. This time she at least knew what to expect. But when his arms slid beneath her to lift her up, she began to get nervous again. He was walking somewhere but from her position she couldn't see where. But she could definitely guess.

          "Where… are you taking me?" She asked breathlessly.

          "I think you know," he said. Then he stopped. "Do you want this?"

          _At least he's asking first,_ she thought. "I do. I have for a very long time," she replied. She was lowered onto the soft surface of the bed and he was already working on the buttons of her shorts.

          "So have I," he told her. "So have I…"

                                                                                                    ~*~

Holy cow! I finished! Deplora is yelling at me to go post, so that I will. And as for everyone else, I am exceedingly sorry that this took so long to get up, but I kinda had a kidney stone and have been on codeine drugs for a while. But I'm back! And since Deplora is being evil and threatening me with HER story chapters, I think I'll have to get some of these up faster. Anyway… so all of you go thank her for badgering me, and I'll get to work on the next chappy!   


	9. What Just Happened?

After a very long, and I daresay for the most part _unplanned_ hiatus for this story, I'm back and I am trying to get back into the swing of this story. It's been such a long time that I actually went back and re-read the whole thing to remember what was going on. I remember most of my ideas and I've gotten a few new ones, so I hope that I can pick up just as well where I left off. And I sure hope my scene breaks work here. I was having trouble with those recently…

Disclaimer: Maybe someone should explain this _very_ slowly so those of you who are too stupid to remember can understand…

..0..0..0..0..0..

The first thing Yuffie felt when she woke up was warmth. Warmth, and the warm weight of someone pressed against her, skin on skin, and a heavy, muscled chest against her back and one arm lazily across her shoulders. She snuggled closer on instinct, and then her eyes snapped open in shock when she remembered the events of the previous night.

Struggling, she managed to break free of the arm and sit herself up, holding a blanket up to her neck to keep herself covered. Squall was still sleeping next to her, snoring softly. He was unguarded and unaware in his sleep, but even that sight didn't soften the young woman's heart. She could not _believe_ what had happened. It was something she had wanted for so long… and now that it had happened, she was terrified.

"Oh my God!" She gasped, covering her mouth with her hands and dragging the blanket from the bed to cover herself as she gathered her clothes. Squall rolled over and woke up, groggily staring at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked, watching her as she grabbed her clothes up off the floor.

"What's _wrong,_ Squall? We wake up after having mad sex all night and you ask me what's _wrong?"_ She snapped. "This… it's not supposed to happen like this! It's wrong and you know it!"

"Then how _was_ it supposed to happen, Yuffie? Tell me so I can do it right next time?" He groped for his shorts and slipped them on as he got up, following her about the room simply by turning in place.

Yuffie mentally beat herself for her slip of the tongue. The last few days with her acting so lovey around him, which seemed like a good idea at the time, she was beginning to regret. She couldn't let him know her feelings towards him. She simply _couldn't._ Not only would it be so wrong on so many levels, but she _hated this man._ So very much. Everything about them clashed, which often led to explosive results.

"Yuffie?" He'd moved closer to her while she thought. She ducked past him and shut herself in the closet, putting her clothes on. He opened the door a crack and she yanked it shut again.

"Stay out of here!"

"Yuffie, you've ruined my life…" he breathed. Somehow, she heard him.

"What?" She stuck her head out, glaring at him. "What do you _mean _by that? I didn't ruin your life! It was ruined when I _met_ you! You're the one who ruined _my_ life!" She slammed the door shut again and continued dressing, walking out of the closet fully clothed.

"We need to talk about this," he said, pivoting so that he could keep his eyes locked on her.

Yuffie paused briefly.

"No, _Leon,_ there is no 'this,' to discuss," she told him calmly. "We won't speak of this again. I'm packing my things and getting a different room, and you and I will never speak of this again, and the secret of this will come with us _to our graves!"_

"I can't do that," he said softly, trapping her between the dresser and the wall.

"Why not? You ignored me long enough!"

"Because… I'm in love with you."

_SWACK!_

His head was turned all the way to the right and his left cheek was stinging from the impact when she slapped him. Slowly, he turned back to face her and she hit him again on the other side, forcing his head all the way to the left.

"Snap out of it!"

"There's nothing to snap out of, Yuffie. I'm in love with you. End of story. But I want it to be the beginning."

"No, it can't be, I'm sorry."

Before she let him answer, she scampered out of the room, and then headed at a dead run down the hall, out the far door, and into the Second District, running to the secluded alley full of crates. She'd grabbed her shurikens this time, and would be ready to face any Heartless that came along. This gave her time to ponder what in hell was going on.

Squall was frightening her. One little fluke like this couldn't change his lifetime of hostilities about her, could it? And yet he had sounded so serious when he said it, when he'd said he loved her. She shook her head to clear it of the thoughts. She had to focus on the matter at hand, to sort things out.

What was it that attracted her to _him,_ of all people, anyway? She supposed she had always admired him. For his strength. She considered herself to be strong in different ways, but she knew that she was not as physically strong as she was fast and wily. She had admired his ability to take defeat and simply train harder for the next time, whereas she would throw a fit sometimes when she lost a battle—that was evident enough in the preliminaries at the Coliseum. And of course there was always his appearance, which would be sufficient enough to make any woman fall over her high heels while watching him. Sometimes in hot weather, he'd train with his shirt off.

Yet despite her attraction to the mysterious Lionhearted, just about every aspect of their personalities clashed. His arrogance and coldness against her sweet and friendly nature sparked many arguments.

And on top of all that, he frightened her. The display last night proved that she _should_ be frightened of him, beyond a reasonable doubt. She had been prying, yes, but he had gone completely overboard with his temper. For a while, she honestly and truthfully believed that he would kill her. His enormous strength and his lack of control of his temper was something that terrified her. Although… no matter how angry he got at her and no matter how much he threatened and threw his weight around, he had never _once _hit her. In the nine years that she had known him and in the two that she had been his partner, he had never laid a vicious hand on her.

"This is so confusing…" she said, putting her face into her hands. "I wish I knew what to do, but I'm so confused I don't even know where I should go or who I can tell…" she trailed off, holding back sobs. She didn't want to shed tears over this.

"Squall told me," a soft but stern voice said behind her. Yuffie turned abruptly to see who was speaking to her, and she shivered when she saw that it was Aerith. She should have known that Aerith would come and look for her. She was just humiliated that Aerith now knew what she'd done.

"I guess you're angry at me, huh?" She said, turning back away and refusing to make eye contact. "You're probably disappointed that I'd've done something so stupid, aren't you?"

Aerith squatted, balancing herself on the balls of her feet next to Yuffie. She was silent for a while before she decided to speak. "I'm not angry. I'm disappointed in what you _did_ but I'm not disappointed in you," she said calmly. "I know how you felt about him. I'm just confused by this. You hate him and you love him, you're confused, but you slept with him anyway. That makes no sense on my end, Yuffie."

"And you think it makes any more sense on mine?" She snapped. "Gawd, I don't even know what was going through my head!"

"What happened last night?" Aerith asked. "Squall told me that you'd…" she paused, looking for the right phrase to use delicately. "Told me that you'd spent the night together, and that you'd yelled at him and slapped him before running off. I—heard some yelling last night but I didn't get up to check. What had happened?"

Yuffie stayed silent.

"Yuffie, you muse tell me. I want to help you."

"But I don't _want_ anyone else's help!" She yelled, burying her face in her hands. "Don't you get it? I want to solve this myself. It's something I need to solve on my own, or with…" she paused. She _had_ to solve this with Squall, but she was unsure of how to do it. Even so, it would mean nothing if she had Aerith solve her problems with him, as she so often did. She had to do it herself, she just had no idea _how_ to even start. She sighed.

Aerith only shook her head. "I don't understand. But I'll let you have your way—just as soon as you tell me what happened last night."

"You really want those details?" She asked, regaining some of her humor and raising her eyebrows. "I mean, they might shock you."

"I didn't mean _that_ part of the night, Yuffie. After all, I'm a _lady,"_ she said, smiling a little.

"Well how do you know what I meant if you're such a lady?" Yuffie asked, the picture of innocence in her face. She sighed and started to explain. "We… got into a fight. A big one. I guess I went overboard, but he was being such an ass. I mean, I asked him if he remembered anything and I guess that was stupid of me, but he said that he did remember some stuff. I guess he was being nice about it. And then I guess I struck a nerve, because I asked him if he remembered anyone specifically, and he said yes. A girl. I suppose I pried too much because then he just stormed off, and I got upset listening to him stupid, pathetic drivel and he told me that I didn't understand. But I did! I told him we were the same, and that I lost everything too… and then I guess he started getting heated because the next thing I knew he was going berserk. I thought he was going to kill me!" She rubbed her arms with her hands and took a breath. "Then he kissed me. And I guess I was so relieved that he wasn't going to kill me that I just… went along with it."

Aerith said nothing for a long, long time, and Yuffie worried what she might have been thinking. Finally, she spoke. "I still don't understand. Maybe I never will. But… you will need to solve this. It can't go on with this kind of tension forever, you know."

The young ninja just nodded to that. She knew. But she was not yet ready.

"But you love him, don't you?"

She nodded, too afraid to actually say it for fear that he might hear her.

"Would you like me to tell him?" She offered, knowing the answer before she even asked.

"No. I can't use you as a go-between anymore. This has nothing to do with you." She continued to look at her feet. When Aerith went to put her hand on her shoulder, she coldly shrugged it off.

"I see." The Flower Girl said before standing and dusting her rump, which was useless because she hadn't actually sat on the ground to begin with. She began to walk away.

"But thank you anyway," Yuffie quietly called to her and watched her walk away.

Once Aerith had disappeared, she dangled her hands between her knees and stared down at her feet once more. She had to think of something… she just didn't know what, yet. She'd need a bit more time to think.

..0..0..0..0..0..

I really don't think that this chapter was any good, but I _am_ glad that I've finished it. Again, I'm really sorry about how long it's been since I last updated, but I hope that my comeback makes up for it. I didn't get much time for writing the last few days because school started and I'm a bit out of whack, not to mention the fact that they messed up my schedule and I have Algebra first thing in the morning! AHH! Anyway, I do have some ideas about where this is headed, and I'm beginning to gather some for the next chapter. But since school is started and all that good stuff, I don't have tons of time to write. But I will make an honest effort!

Please review and make me happy! Then go and thank Deplora, since she was the one who badgered me into updating this sucker!


	10. Actions and Words

It was a three day weekend and I got a lot of "loafing" out of the way, so now I'm off to writing again. Anyway, on a note about the traditional roles of Squall and Yuffie—I figured it'd be an interesting change. I've never really seen it done before. And despite the disappointing lack of review for the last chapter, I write again anyway in hopes that more of you will realize I've updated. I've apparently lost a _lot_ of readers to my extended absence from HDILT. I hope you all come back!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this stuff. I mean come on now, if I _did_ isn't it a bit pathetic that I'm writing fanfiction about my own creation? Yea, I thought so too…

…0…0…0…0…

Yuffie snuck back into the hotel once she noticed Squall leave. She wanted to get her clothes together and leave the Green Room before he got back—that way he wouldn't have any opportunities to persuade her to stay there with him when she was not ready to face him after what they had done.

She was still confused and a little scared, not to mention disgusted with herself. She had, lately, been forgetting to differentiate between her fantasies and her realities. She had always dreamed of sex with Squall. The way the events played out in her mind over and over again, however, were considerably different than the ones that had take place. She shivered, overturning drawers into a suitcase and sitting on it to keep it closed as she tried to zip it.

_"You're being a coward, aren't you?"_ An inner voice said. _"Running away from you problems like that. Is that all you'll ever do? Just turn tail and run when the going gets' tough? Or should you more like to face it, so it's not hanging over you all the time like a big hairy monster breathing down your neck?"_

Yuffie sighed heavily, stopping her argument with the suitcase zipper. Whatever "Inner Voice" was speaking had an overly logical point, but she didn't like it. She had to face up to this eventually, but she _did_ want a little time to gather up the broken bits of her dignity, particularly as Aerith _also_ knew of their little "escapade."

But how would she do it? It was hard enough trying to _think_ of something to do—executing the plan would be even harder. Until then, she decided, she would _not _be able to share even a _room,_ much less a _bed_ with Squall. She went back to forcing all of her weight onto the suitcase to make it zip, muttering curses at it.

"Come on, you son of a bitch, close up! The sooner I get packed the sooner I can get out of here!" She hissed, balanced on her knees at the edge, hoping that the zipper wouldn't burst when she got up. "Come on, before he gets back and sees me here!"

"So you're just givin' up, huh?"

_"Gyyaaaahh!"_ She leaped from the suitcase and backed all the way into the bed and hitting her head on the night table. "What the hell are you doing here and what do you want?" She yelled, rubbing her head.

Squall had come in when she wasn't paying attention. She didn't know how long he had been standing there, looking sinfully attractive leaning on the doorframe wearing his black leather pants and black leather jacket and no shirt. She averted her gaze before he noticed her staring.

"Did Aerith tell you?" She asked suspiciously.

"No, I came back myself," he said simply, moving from the doorframe to sit on the long dresser in the room.

"So what do you want?" She snapped, knowing that she was being rude and not really caring. The sooner she could turn him off of her, the better.

"Can't we talk?" He asked gently.

"Talk about what?" She went back to her suitcase, trying to push everything down enough to zip it again.

"You're just gonna up and leave, is that it?" He asked again. "Give up, move out, pretend it never happened, and go on with your life and forget all about it?"

"That's the plan," she grunted, zipping her suitcase successfully before standing up and taking a hold of the handle.

"Why?"

To that, she had no answer. Squall was confusing her now. He was talking more to her the last few minutes than he usually talked to her in an entire day. Not suddenly he wanted to talk with her. She sighed and sat down on her suitcase, putting her elbows on her knees and putting her chin on her crossed forearms.

"Because… because… this was wrong," she stated simply. "It was… I don't know, I can't explain it, I just wanna forget it as soon as possible."

"And for that you have to leave."

"Well _duh!"_ She snapped, amazed at his apparent stupidity. "I mean how in hell am I supposed to forget what happened when I live every day with you and sleep every night with you? How do I know… how do I know that you won't make a move on me? I'm nervous and scared and confused about this!"

"And I'm not?" He asked. "One day you seem like you're head-over-heels for me, and then the next you're completely turned off of me. Why is that?"

"Because it all happened so damned fast!" She struggled to keep herself from yelling at him too much, lest Aerith hear. "A few days ago I thought you hated me, then you get so mad at me that I swore you were going to _kill_ me, and then we fuck. _Does that sound just the littlest bit screwed up to you, Squall?"_

"Yuffie!" He stood up and clenched his fists, then closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. She didn't seem to grasp this from his perspective. "What part of 'I love you' don't you understand?" He asked. "I love you!"

"No, you don't! You're just mad!" She hauled on her suitcase again, trying to get it out of the room before things got heated—again.

"Please don't leave, Yuffie."

This stopped her. Was Squall Leonhart actually _pleading_ with her?

"Why?"

"Look, just stay in here with me for a little while longer—I promise I won't do anything. Just… don't leave."

"You _won't_ do anything?" She said slyly.

"No, I won't."

"I'm getting a futon and we won't be sleeping in the same bed anymore," she warned.

"That's fine."

"I'll be showering in Aerith's bathroom."

"Okay."

"I'm keeping my suitcase packed, so if I get too uncomfortable here I can leave."

There was a brief pause before he agreed to this, too. With a nod, Yuffie dropped her things and went off to find an unused futon.

…0…0…

For the billionth time in her life, Yuffie was amazed at how horribly _loud_ crickets could be when a person was trying to sleep. She rolled over and put a pillow on top of her head to block out the sound, which worked until she needed air. Resigned to her fate, she sat up on the futon, looking at the window. There were no stars and there was no moon. Everything outside was dark.

It had been about a week since her incident with Squall. True to his word, he had been a gentleman around her, and had not _once_ done anything remotely sexual. Even so, she could still see the fire in his eyes whenever they were alone. But for the most part, things were back to normal—relatively normal. They spoke little but spent almost all of their time together; they were called off every now and then at ungodly or just plain inconvenient hours to fend off Heartless; they interacted in harmony with one another, knowing what one wanted without the other having to say a word.

She looked over at Squall, who was splayed out on the bed with his head hanging off of one corner, snoring, drooling, tongue hanging out. To think that most days he was _attractive_ when he slept. Now he just looked weird. Of course his attitude these days was even stranger. He'd been… well… _nice._

He hadn't said very much at all to her, but he was _doing_ so much differently than he used to. He'd helped her haul the futon into their room. He'd lifted and flipped onto its' side the center table, which they rarely used anyway except to pile their junk onto. While she put sheets on her new makeshift bed, he moved the table and the remaining chairs out of their room to give her more space.

The next day they were out most of the day fighting Heartless, from the time they woke up almost until nine at night. When they got back, she had been too exhausted to go anywhere, even for food, and collapsed in bed. The next morning when she woke up as hungry as a wild animal, she discovered a tray of food next to her on the floor.

They had also taken a three-day trip to the Coliseum to fight in the Pegasus Cup as a team. Once they had made it to the top ranks, they went to face Sora. The Keyblade wielder, as usual, went after the smaller of the two targets first. Once she was cornered, Squall got up and went after him like she'd never seen before. She was flattered but at the same time annoyed. Why couldn't things have worked out differently?

Her thoughts were back in the present this time, and she continued to try to look out the window at the streets below, teeming with the little Nocturnes and Rhapsodies. She heard something stir and glanced up, but Squall had only flipped over in his sleep and settled back down.

It was beginning to get chilly again. Yuffie rubbed her arms through her sweatshirt and took a glance at Squall again. He had two blankets on his bed and seemed comfortable while she was freezing her butt off with three. He never seemed to get cold at night. Ever.

Quietly, she moved over to the side of the bed and took a hold of the corner of the blanket, trying to pull it off of him. He had gripped a large portion of it in his hands and underneath his body, and it required a considerable amount of force to pull it out. Then he abruptly tugged it back. Caught off guard, she stumbled over and landed across his stomach so that together they made an X shape. Quickly, she pushed herself up and turned her head about to look at him, terrified that she had woken him up. She had.

"Yuffie?" His stare was intense, but he didn't dare lift a hand to touch her. He could read her eyes just as well as she could his. She was frightened.

"I'm—sorry," she murmured, quickly trying to get up only to discover she'd become tangled in the blankets. She tried her best to un-twist them, but Squall put his hands on her shoulders to hold her still and her eyes went enormously wide and she took in a very shuddery breath.

"What… did you want?" He asked gently, keeping his voice low and his hands away from anything dangerous.

"I was cold," she admitted truthfully. "I was trying to take your blanket away. But I shouldn't have. And I'm sorry I woke you up."

She got up to leave him and go back to her own bed. She heard bedsprings creak and felt something warm draped across her shoulders. A blanket. She looked questioningly at him. He offered no explanation, merely wrapped himself up in the remaining blanket and rolled over, his back to her.

"Night Yuffie."

She was still slightly in shock over this. In the dead of night on a cold night he had given her a blanket when he only had two to begin with. She snuggled back down in her nest of blankets and pillows, finally warm enough to go to sleep… thanks to Squall.

It made her brain hurt to think about this. She tried to concentrate on sleeping. Tomorrow was one of their Waterway-Training days and he liked to get an early start.

When morning rolled around, she rolled over on the futon and looked at the clock on the wall, but she couldn't read it from where she was sitting. Instead, she sat up to looked around, noticing that the bed was made and Squalls' boots and Gunblade were missing. She squinted at the door, looking for a note or something to tell her where he'd gone, but there wasn't. Instead she rolled back onto her back with one arm over her eyes.

Squall was probably off obsessively training, and had gotten sick of waiting for her. Or maybe he'd tried to wake her up and hadn't been able to. Or maybe he just gave up all together on training days…

The door opened and Yuffie bent her head all the way back to see who was there. Squall walked in, Gunblade over one shoulder and his face and what she could see of his white shirt were soaked with sweat.

"You done already with training?" She asked thickly through a yawn.

"Of course I am," he said, sounding slightly annoyed with her. On instinct she recoiled from his tone of voice. He noticed this and softened his expression. "Sorry, Yuf, it was just that you wouldn't get up this morning. I've been out since seven."

"Well what time is it now?" She asked.

"Almost eleven. I just let you sleep in this morning," he said. "I mean you probably didn't get a lot of sleep last night with your being so cold you took my blanket."

"You could have kept it."

"It's okay… you needed it," he said. With that he went off to take a shower.

Yuffie was a bit stunned by this. What we he up to? He was being so nice to her. A voice played in the back of her head:

_"Actions speak louder than words."_

…0…0…0…0…

Okay, well that chapter is out and it doesn't really move the story along much but at leas I'm updating. I don't have much time to write final notes but I will try to update again soon and move the story along. Significance of this chapter: Yuffie obviously doesn't wanna talk, so he is using actions instead. Hehehe.


	11. Warmth

I really have no idea where I'm going with this chapter but I have the Writing Itch and I really, really would like to get this story finished sometime soon. There's probably only two or three more chapters left for this puppy. I was planning on making it really long but I just haven't the oomph for that anymore.

Disclaimer: Don't make me hurt you…

..0..0..0..0..0..

No. It couldn't be happening. No, no, no, this was so not right. No matter how hard she tried _not_ to reciprocate Squall's feelings, the way he acted around her lately had made it difficult. The way he acted. The things he did. The way he looked at her. They all made her love him without trying. And she didn't understand anything that was happening.

Yuffie sighed a huge sigh and stared up into the sky. No other stars had gone out recently, sp she figured that Sora was doing a good job keeping the Heartless at bay. Unfortunately, the lack of activity in Traverse had also led to more free time—more time for her to think about Squall. He was still being a regular gentleman with her, despite the fire in his eyes when he looked at her. That look always made her catch her breath.

Silly… two weeks ago she'd've given anything to be in this position, with Squall eating out of the palm of her hand and doing things for her even though she wasn't asking or even implying that she wanted something. But things had worked out so wrong, and she didn't want to take it any further. Despite the things that attracted her to him, she was still frightened. She believed that he honestly would not hesitate to kill her. She shivered as she clung to the wooden railing over the café's upper balcony. This was getting so confusing.

At the same time, Squall was on the other end of town, thinking similar thoughts of Yuffie. He was in the Waterway, trying to skip stones across the water like she'd showed him how. He had wanted to do things right with her, but when she pushed all of his buttons at once, he became six kinds of passion looking for an exit. He'd turned into rage and fear and love and lust all at once with her, and he didn't blame her for being scared.

Seeing as she wasn't up for talking things out, he decided to do things a bit differently. His actions were working better than anything he could have said, because he could tell she was starting to drop her own barriers. She loved him; that much he knew. But his rage at her that night had made her so frightened of being hurt around him that she'd begun to put up solid walls around her own emotions.

Didn't she get it? He loved her. It was before he'd even taken her that he'd loved her. It was before then. It had been a long time ago, when he found that her silliness, her perkiness, and her general demeanor of sugary-sweet could bring him a little bit closer to happiness. Hadn't she figured out by now _why_ he wanted the Keyblade so badly? She probably believed that he wanted to repent for his failure to defend the Bastion, and that was a part of the reason. He always wanted to be able to protect her. If anything had happened to her, he would never forgive himself.

Maybe someday she would forgive him for everything he'd done to her. But for now he would just have to try to win her heart gently. Patience would prove to, ultimately, be an asset in winning back his ninja. He smirked. He'd been thinking of her like that for quite some time. Only now it was true. She _was_ his. Now and for always. Now if only he could find a way to make her _want_ to stay with him.

Slowly, and without knowing it, they both began to wander back to their room, timed so that they would walk into the front and back doors at the same time. Squall had taken quite a while to get up on the roof and onto the balcony behind the hotel, and Yuffie had run all the way from the First District. When they opened the doors at the same time, they were both shocked to see the other there, too.

Yuffie yipped and put one hand over her heart when she saw the door open in the back. She took a deep breath and backed against the door to close it.

"You scared me," she said quietly. "Where did you come from?"

"The Waterway," he said, looking down at his wet-to-the-knees pants. He was glad he had opted _out_ of the leather ones today. "Where were you?"

She was prepared to make a snap at him but decided against it. It was just an innocent question. "Just thinkin'," she said. She noticed that Squall was lighting kerosene lanterns in their room. Yuffie tilted her head slightly, confused. "What's with the lanterns?"

"Some Heartless put out the generator again," he said. "There's no heat or light or even hot water tonight. Looks like we'll be stuck in the cold until they can get it fixed."

"A Heartless?" She asked. The only kind of Heartless that was big enough to do that kind of damage to a generator was a Defender, and the thought of having one so close to the hotel at night made her shiver with suppressed fear.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Are you scared?"

"No," she fibbed. "Just cold. I swear I can see my own breath in here."

Without saying a word, Squall picked a blanket up off of his bed and offered it to her, knowing that she would be very cold during the night. This left him with only one blanket for the cold night, Yuffie realized when she went to reach for it, but stopped.

"No, Squall, you keep it. You'll die of pneumonia if you keep giving me your blankets on cold nights like this," she said. "I'll survive, don't worry."

"You're certain?"

"Yea, it's not like I'm deprived or anything." Her blanket stash had upped from three to four in the last week. "I'll find some other way to keep warm."

Comments about combined body heat lingered at the tip of Squall's tongue but he refused to speak them, for fear of her becoming angry again. Instead he just tossed the blanket back onto his bed and changed into sweats to sleep in. He'd abandoned his method of seducing her by wearing nothing but his shorts to sleep in when he discovered that he could easily freeze to death at night if he was dressed like that.

Yuffie took her own sleepwear into the bathroom and changed there, emerging two minutes later wearing her plaid flannel pants and a sweatshirt that she's swiped from Squall ages ago. She noticed him with his face against the window, looking out towards the alley behind the hotel.

"What _are_ you looking at?" She asked.

"I thought I saw it down thataway," he said, pointing down the alley.

"Saw what?"

"The Defender."

Yuffie squealed and backed into the far corner of the room with her eyes wide with fear. "Is it gone?" She asked in a small voice.

"Calm down, Yuffie. As long as we're in here, nothing can happen," he assured her. "If you panic you'll just give yourself an ulcer."

Whimpering, she gathered one of the top blankets on her bed around herself and climbed onto the bed behind where Squall stood, still staring out the window. "The least you could do it close the curtains or something so it can't look in here with those horrible red eyes and scare me to death if I wake up and see it there…"

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," he said. At first she thought that he was being silly but she heard nothing but sincerity in his voice.

Without another word, she climbed into bed, wrapped up in blankets. Even with all of them wrapped around her, she was still chilly. It tended to get colder at night, even though it was dark all the time, and she shivered from the cold. Every now and then, she would hear something rattle or clank outside, and she would sit upright with terror, thinking that there was a Defender on the loose. Mostly it was just a stray animal or a harmless Rhapsody flitting about. One time it was a flowerpot pushed off of a balcony. She was getting paranoid.

She didn't know how long she'd been awake for, but when she squinted for a look at the clock, she was shocked to see that it was well past two in the morning. She was cold and tired and scared. As of then, sharing a bed with Squall had a considerable appeal to it. Mustering her courage, she stood up, wrapped in a blanket, and tiptoed over to him.

"Squall?" She whispered, nudging his shoulder with her hand. He didn't move. "Squall…" she tried a little louder this time, accompanied by a bigger nudge. He snorted and flipped over, facing her but his eyes were still closed. "Squall, wake up!" She pushed him with both hands this time and his eyes snapped open. He frowned, looking around for the disturbance.

"Yuffie?" He asked softly. "What are you doing over here? What's wrong?" He tried not to get his hopes up.

"I'm cold and I'm scared," she admitted. "Can I… would you… I wanna… crawl in with you." She looked down at the floor. "D'you mind?"

He shook his head as a Halleluiah chorus played in his head. "No, of course not." He scooted over to make room for her and she tentatively climbed in next to him, still wrapped up in her blanket. The blanket would serve as a barrier between them but at least she was in the same bed as him. Once she was settled, he carefully put one arm around her waist.

Yuffie gasped slightly at the contact and lifted his hand from her waist. She could sense his disappointment but instead of making him move the hand completely, she just placed it on her hip instead.

"I couldn't've slept like that," she said. "I'm ticklish." She kept her hand on top of his on her hip, and she finally felt warm enough and _safe_ enough to fall asleep. "Night, Squall."

Encouraged by this, he whispered against her ear, "Goodnight, Yuf."

..0..0..0..0..0..

Over the last two weeks Yuffie had been slowly getting closer to Squall. _Very_ slowly. She'd begun sharing a bed with him again when it was cold out, and she didn't shy away or try to slap him when he touched her, although she would not let him touch her in public. He would always stay just out of arms' reach so that he would not be tempted.

She was also really careful about what she said around him. She didn't want to provoke his rage again, seeing as the _last_ time she did that, they'd ended up in this current state of confusion. Over the last week, however, the confusion had cleared up somewhat. He loved her and she loved him, but while he was desperately trying to win her over, she was trying not to show it at all, or as little as possible.

Yuffie sat on the balcony, looking up at the stars again. She was relieved to note that they were all still there, and the no other worlds had collapsed. The icy cold weather had made the sky so clear that the moon and the stars cast an eerie blue light on everything. Behind the hotel there were no streetlamps, so she could look up and see everything perfectly.

Her breath formed clouds in the air in front of her, and every so often, a cold breeze would nip at her cheeks and nose. She breathed deep, taking in the smell of cold air and outside. Sometimes she came out to a balcony to stare up at the sky and think. Other times she stared into the sky just to wonder, and do anything _but_ think.

"If you stay out here in the cold like this, you'll just get sick," someone said behind her. At first she thought it was Aerith, because of what was said. Then she turned around and saw Squall standing there, wrapped tightly in a heavy coat.

"So?" She didn't bother looking at him. She heard his footsteps and then felt warmth at her back and she knew that he was right there behind her. He put one hand on either side of her and leaned forward over her head.

"I don't want you getting sick," he told her. He leaned back briefly to open up his coat and slide his arms from the sleeves, draping the front of it around her so that it covered both of them.

For a while they both sat, staring at the stars and watching their cloudy breaths mingle in the air. After a time, she realized that he was not going to leave until she agreed to come inside. He wanted to make sure that she stayed warm.

She knew that he loved her, but she was still nervous. She still knew that there were things that she could do or say that would set him off into his monster rage and make him angry enough to kill her.

"Squall… when I made you so angry at me that night…" she paused and took a breath. "You… I thought you wanted to kill me. I thought I was going to die." There. She'd said it. Unexpectedly, she felt him slump over her shoulder, resting his head in between he shoulder and neck. His breath was warm on her skin.

"That's what you were afraid of, isn't it?" He asked. Things were coming to the light now, so to speak. "That's why you shy from me."

She merely nodded, looking down and leaning back at the same time to keep her balance on the balcony.

"I could never," he said. "I couldn't hurt you even if I wanted to—which I never have." He used one arm to hold her close against him. He felt her tense but she forced herself to relax. "I love you, Yuffie. I know you hate to hear it but I love you."

Yuffie breathed shakily, feeling the last of her barriers crumble. "I know… and… I love you. I know it sounds silly because I'm always running away from you but I love you, too." She turned to face him and without warning she hugged him tightly around his chest. Gently, he hugged her back, lips against her raven-black hair.

"Come inside, Yuffie. Come to bed," he said softly.

Smiling slightly, she looked up into his eyes, putting on the sweetest face she could. "Carry me?"

He obliged, taking her still wrapped in his coat into their room and kicking the door closed behind him. He wanted to badly right now to kiss her. He was so tempted, moreso when he gently let her slide to the bed and she looked up at him with those eyes. Just as he was about to pull away from her, she gently bit his neck between her lips.

Without thinking, he whipped his head around and kissed her, all but sucking the tongue right out of her mouth. He shifted position from standing next to the bed to kneeling over her, his forearms resting on either side of her shoulders to support him. He could see both anticipation and a slight hint of fear in her eyes. He kissed her again, more gently. She purred into his mouth and buried her fingers in his hair.

"God, Squall… this is _so_ wrong…" she groaned as his assault moved lower to her collarbone.

"I know it is," he said. "But it feels so right."

..0..0..0..0..0..

Okay! There we have it, the next and long-awaited chapter. You can thank Deplora for not letting me leave the computer until I was finished. Yea, now the chapter goes from Terrified-Yuffie to Yuffie-In-Love. He's still gonna drive her crazy though, don't worry. I think I can squeeze two or three more chapters out of this sucker. I hope you enjoy—and please review!


	12. Colours

It really worries me how long this story has been idle. Nine months. That's how long it takes your average baby to cook. But since having my own computer, I've written a few oneshots and I thought I should probably update this—after all, it's been a long time! I hope I haven't lost my touch.

Disclaimer: What disclaimer?

0…0…0…0…0

She wasn't really sure how she was supposed to act these days. So she acted the same as she usually did, which seemed wrong. After all, she and Squall were technically and "item" now, so shouldn't she be acting a _little bit _different? Wasn't she supposed to walk around holding his hand or something like that? That's what she'd seen in movies, anyway. But then again, movies are to life as Spam is to filet mignon.

That still left Yuffie with the question: shouldn't she be _doing_ something?

Although, thinking about it, she didn't really think Squall would care one way or another. He'd never really been one for public displays of affection anyway, which was fine because she'd feel weird kissing him in front of other people.

When they were alone it was a completely different matter all together. He was quite… affectionate. No, "affectionate" wasn't a good enough word. It was more like "horny." She didn't really mind so much, though. She'd waited long enough to have him all over her like he was now.

But… sometimes she wanted some space. He'd been trying to follow her around a lot lately, which was cute but only to a degree. Sometimes she just wanted to be by herself, like right now. She was browsing the weapon shop greedily, looking to spend some of the Munny she'd scored while fighting Heartless.

If he was here, he would probably offer to pay for her, and she really didn't like it when he did that. That's the joy of kicking Heartless ass—spending the Munny on something that Aerith wouldn't normally let her buy—like throwing knives.

She giggled girlishly as she picked up a set of knives in a wooden box, paid for them, and left. She could _definitely­_ something good about the more challenging Heartless; they paid_ really_ well. It didn't take her as long as she thought to save up M10,000 for the knives.

She left the weapon shop and slung her bag over her shoulder and wandered around a little more, looking for something else to waste money on. There were more shops she could buy from now, thanks to the Heartless. The shop owners always kept a wary eye on her whenever she walked in, though, because she was a teenager. It was like they had this automatic assumption that teenagers would rob them blind.

So instead, she contented herself with looking in the window displays. At one of the displays, she felt someone yank on the bag she carried and she almost fell down backwards. Annoyed, she spun around and came face-to-face with two guys obviously looking for trouble, although why they were pestering _her_ personally was unknown.

"What do you _want?"_ She asked, exasperated. "And what kind of a guy picks on a girl, anyway?"

"You've got some money," one of them said. "We want it."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "You guys have a lot to learn about mugging. The idea is to do it where nobody else can see you." With that, she squeezed between them and started to walk away, uninterested in fighting with them. She had only _just_ bought those knives and she didn't want to get blood on them yet.

The guy who had spoken grabbed her hair from behind and pulled her back. She yelped loudly and flailed, trying to hit him. She ended up whacking him on the head with the knife box as the bag swung.

"You guys really need to leave me alone," she said. "You've really got no honor at all if you try to steal from a _teenager_ in the streets, let alone a _girl._ I haven't even got a purse, so how do you think I had any money at all?"

"Then where did this come from, then?" He pulled on her bag again and ducked when she swung it.

"Will you _please_ just go find somebody else to annoy?"

And again they just stood there, apparently deadest on getting money that they weren't even positive she had. So she just glared at them, hoping that maybe they would leave. To her surprise, they looked quite scared and ran off.

Pleased with herself, she spun around to continue walking and bumped into something warm and fairly solid.

"What—?" She backed up to get a better look.

"They were really obnoxious, weren't they?" Squall asked.

"How long have you be standing there?" She demanded. "You scared them away, didn't you?"

"You're too cute to be intimidating with just a look."

"That makes me feel really confident," she said sarcastically. "Did you follow me again? You know I hate it when you do that!"

"I just like to keep an eye on you, Yuffie. And this just happened to be a coincidence, I wasn't following you this time." He put his arm around her briefly and then folded his arms across his chest. "What's in the bag?"

"Throwing knives."

"You had throwing knives and you didn't even use them?" He asked, looking slightly amused.

"They're _new,_ I don't wanna get blood on them yet." She smiled a little, knowing how silly she sounded. Squall cracked a vague hint of a smile, too, which made her very happy. He rarely ever smiled outside of the context of sex. Yuffie rather liked when she could make him smile with her clothes still on.

"So where were you going, anyway?" Squall asked as she slung her bag back comfortably over her shoulder and dusted herself off.

"Nowhere, really. I was just window-shopping… not even, really. It was more like just window-watching," she said.

"Oh, really?" He raised his eyebrows suspiciously. "Is it mere coincidence that you were lingering in front of this particular window?" He gestured to the large shop display window which glittered with precious gems. She'd stopped in front of a jewelry shop without actually knowing it.

"Actually, yes, it _is_ mere coincidence. I don't usually stare so much at this window," she peered into a display case. Gold and diamonds winked back at her in the lamplight behind her.

There were some pretty big rocks in there, cut in every style imaginable and set in groups of two or more in rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. People could sell _both_ of their kidneys on the black market and _still_ not have enough money to buy some of these. She wrinkled her nose as she backed up from the window.

"Nothing really interesting in these windows," she said. Squall gave her an extremely baffled look, like he couldn't believe what she was saying. And that confused _her._ "What? Did I say something?"

"You realize these are all diamonds," he said.

"Yea, I know. Big ones, too. So what?" When he gave her the same completely mystified expression, she sighed. "I think they're overrated," she explains. "I mean, yea, diamonds are nice and sparkly and rare and _really expensive,_ but they're kinda boring."

"Diamonds are boring?" He repeated, as a question.

"Yea. They're just clear stones. At least, to me they are." She looked back into the shop window at the rows and rows of diamonds sitting nice and pretty in thick and probably heavily alarmed glass cases. She hadn't ever actually been into this shop before, but from what she saw in the window, they sold mainly diamonds. "I just think they're a little cliché, you know?"

"Are you saying something like diamonds are _common?"_ He still didn't seem to get it, so she figured she might as well explain it fully to him.

"Pretty much, yea. When men go to get rings for their girlfriends, they always think of gold and diamonds. How unoriginal is that? Every married or engaged woman I've ever met has had a gold engagement ring with a diamond. Gold and diamonds are all well and good, I guess, but colored stones have so much more character."

"I get it," he said with a nod. "I sort of see what you mean, now. Colored stones stand out when everybody else is wearing the same thing."

"Something like that. It says a lot about the person wearing it and a lot about the person who got it. Something different… something unique. Something nobody else really thinks of."

Squall was… slightly surprised. He'd learned something new about Yuffie… something that she probably wouldn't have brought up. Ever. Yuffie wasn't one to talk about jewelry unprovoked. Their conversation had just sort of drifted in that direction.

He was really glad that she _had_ told him, too. Now he knew what _not_ to get Yuffie. Otherwise he probably would've thought a diamond would be okay for her. In a way he wasn't really surprised about it. He'd never known Yuffie to be the conventional type, so it wasn't so shocking to hear that she would prefer a colored stone to a clear one. And anyway, a colored stone would look good on her—especially if that was _all_ she was wearing…

_No, no, not in public,_ Squall told himself. He had to at least wait until they were behind closed doors. He'd never been a fan of PDA and actually thought it was pretty rude for people to stop in the middle of the street to slobber all over their partner. He _still_ thought it was rude, but every so often he wanted to just hold her and kiss her without caring what the world thought. Besides the fact that they would probably label him a pedophile, snogging in public wasn't any less rude when he did it.

_Pedophile…_ he snorted like a bull, trying to shake the word out of his head. He hated that word. Nobody ever really said it out loud, but he could tell by their looks and the way that they spoke that they were thinking it. Whenever he was with Yuffie, people always treated them in an offhanded way. Sometimes people would "accidentally" mistake Yuffie for his little sister or niece. The really cruel people would "mistake" her for his daughter. They were all trying to make the trivial age gap seem much larger than it actually was. He took some comfort in the fact that he wasn't possibly old enough to be her father—to be anyone's father. Who becomes a father before finishing primary school, anyway?

He really was being silly, thinking so much. He was just happy Yuffie had finally accepted him. He was so afraid that he'd frightened her away after being so… downright horrible to her. A few times along the line, he was pretty sure he'd blown it, and maybe with any other woman he would have, but not with Yuffie. Yuffie would have been hard for him to repel, even if he'd actually wanted to, which he didn't. Every time he'd scorched her, she'd come right back and see if she could help him. She was persistent… maybe that was part of the attraction. If she hadn't been persistent and hung around him, he might never have paid attention to her. Funny how things like this worked out.

Squall looked up and realized he'd lost track of Yuffie. She was pretty quiet when she moved, or maybe he was thinking really loudly—or maybe both. He didn't have to look too far for her. She was across the road, looking into another shop window.

"Is this what you do all day while I'm out busting my ass with training?" He murmured in her ear from behind.

"Only when there's nothing on TV and it isn't raining," she told him, still staring at a display of miniature ships in glass bottles.

"Do you know how they get those in there?" He asked.

"Well, sure," she said. "They get a bunch of little tiny men with little tiny tools and little tiny supplies to go in there and build it. And then when they're all done, they crack a little tiny bottle of champagne over the hull and have a party."

"That explanation would surprise me if it came from anybody else but you." He put his arm around her waist from behind. Yuffie blinked down at it, slightly surprised by this sudden display of affection—in _public._ But it was kind of nice… and nobody was around at the moment to sneer and make rude gestures at them.

Suddenly she backed away from the window. "I think we'd better go now," she said abruptly, walking away from the shop.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he caught up with her.

"Oh, nothing," she reassured him. "It's just that the shop owners sometimes don't like it when I spend all afternoon window-shopping. They complain that I get handprints all over the windows and I never buy anything and then they have to go outside and clean their windows all over again." She looked back up at him and shrugged. "I'm gonna head back to the room and then go get some dinner. Will you be staying out and training until two in the morning again or will you be joining me?"

"Don't make fun," he grumbled as they walked. "I do that for you, you know. I do that to be able to protect you."

"Well if you spend all of your time training and none of it sleeping, you won't have enough energy to defend me in the event of an attack. You'll pick up that sword and fall right over and go to sleep."

"I like to think you have a little more faith in me than that," he said quickly, sounding slightly offended.

"I do… but if you just keep working yourself and never stopping to eat or sleep or rest up, all of that training isn't gonna do you much good. The Heartless don't wait until you've decided to get a decent nights' sleep."

To that, Squall just grunted.

Now she knew she'd made him angry. Just like that. One minute they were getting along just fine, and the next minute, she's said something stupid and he's angry at her again. It was going so well, too. He'd almost succumbed to PDA. But by now she was well used to his mood swings. All she would have to do would be to leave him alone for a few hours and he would get over it himself.

The rest of the walk to the hotel passed in silence. An uncomfortable, uneasy silence. Yuffie expected him to peel off and go straight to the café for dinner but instead he followed her to the room. He plopped himself into a chair and watched her walk about the room.

She put her knives up on a shelf in their box and disposed of the bag. She picked up some clean clothes and started to take the filthy ones off, and she heard Squall make a choking noise behind her.

"What?" She turned around and saw him with a hand on his forehead.

"Can't you do that in the bathroom?"

"All I'm doing is changing clothes."

"I know, but… can't you… please…" he trailed off and swallowed hard.

"Oh, I get it. It's turning you on," she said with an impish grin. "And I'll I'm doing is changing clothes. It's not like I'm doing a striptease or anything."

"Yuffie…"

"It's nice to know I have this kind of power. I have what you want—and I have to sit on it."

"It's nice to know you can reduce me to a sex-crazed animal," he growled. Despite his annoyed tone, there was an unmistakable glint in his eyes. He really wasn't very angry after all, it seemed. That miniature sulk hadn't lasted very long, so he couldn't have been even vaguely upset by it. Or maybe she'd made him forget all about it. Maybe she could solve everything by just taking off her shirt. She giggled.

"Oh, come on, you're a guy. It's not like you can help it."

"I thought I was above all that."

"You can't fight nature, you know. Trying will only make your eyeballs explode."

"Eyeballs? Where do you come up with that?"

"Because I knew you'd get upset if I said 'testicles'."

She heard him snort with suppressed laughter even though he'd put his face in his hands.

He didn't know whether to be slightly annoyed or amused about his situation. Lately it had been hard for him to keep himself under control when they where alone together. Ever since she had broken down his guard and since he'd stopped inadvertently frightening her and pushing her away, there was really nothing to keep them apart anymore… which resulted in explosive and somewhat pornographic situations at nearly every opportunity, regardless of whether or not it was technically appropriate.

Even fighting led to sex. Fighting _especially_ led to sex. Good manners no longer dictated that they keep their hands to themselves, even during an argument. Attempts at physically restraining one another in the heat of an argument ended up with somebody getting naked. Conventional relationship psychology would call it something like, "power struggles for domination in all aspects including but not limited to opinions, physical power, and intimacy."

In that case, it was probably a really good thing that there weren't any conventional relationship psychologists in Traverse Town at the moment.

It wouldn't take a trained professional to know that their relationship was different than most. Nearly everybody noticed. It was hard _not_ to notice two people who seemed so completely different, who spent a lot of time arguing with each other and didn't even hold hands on the streets but yet were obviously enamored with one another.

"Come on, stop pouting and get up," Yuffie said, pulling on one of his hands. She'd changed into some cleaner clothes while he had been thinking. He'd missed it. Nuts. "Come on!" She said again, kneeling on the floor on front of him and resting her head atop her hands, resting on his knee. "Stop pouting like that, you know I was just teasing you."

"I know you were," he said simply. "I just have to wait and plot for about an hour and a half until we come back."

She raised herself higher on her knees and put her mouth right up to his ear. "Nobody said you _have_ to wait. Nobody's made any promises about anything," she breathed. She kissed his neck and tugged gently on his earring with her teeth.

This was going to take an extraordinary amount of willpower.

"Yuffie," he growled, trying _really_ hard to maintain. She wasn't listening. And she was biting his neck.

And his collarbone.

And she was licking.

_So help me, there had better be a Heaven,_ he thought, which took up the last cognitive powers in his head. "Yuffie!" He covered her mouth with his hand and pushed her back down to kneel flat on the floor.

She looked at him with that big-eyed innocent look that she only used when she wanted something. She used both of her hands to peel his from her mouth.

"Is there something wrong?"

Squall took a very, _very_ deep breath. "Don't you think this is a _little_ trashy before dinner?"

Pause.

"No, not really," she answered after she had apparently thought about it for an entire twenty seconds. She rose back up and made for his neck again but he stopped her.

"Yuffie!"

"Okay, all right, I get it," she huffed, finally giving up—for the moment. "Just once I wanted dessert first. But it's okay, I get it. Dinner first, sex later."

She got up and put her shoes on and headed for the door, but he didn't follow right away.

"Come on. If I walk real close in front of you, nobody will notice that," she said.

He shook his head. She was awfully bold, and really fresh. She had that strange, sexy innocence about her. She was very different from most other women, but it kept him on his toes and he could never be completely sure what would happen next. Yuffie would always be able to surprise him.

He stood and joined her at the door, gently nudging her out first. Then he put his arm around her, fingers grazing her skin just slightly below her waistband as a silent promise for things to come.

He didn't say very much, most of the time. He would be like that forever, probably, hardly speaking unless provoked. Words didn't suit him so well, she'd discovered, and his most effective communication was silent, but remarkably effective. She inadvertently shivered and twitched when his hand made contact with a ticklish spot.

Words would never suit Squall so well as this.

0…0…0…0…0

I feel so very incredibly accomplished right now. I finished my first HDILT chapter in _nine whole wide entire months._ I'm sure my lingering fans are very happy about this as well. I foresee chapters being out slightly quicker than before now that I don't have to share a computer with everybody else in the house.

I hope you all found this enjoyable. This chapter feels like it's a different tone than the others… which I had to go back and re-read! (Shh—don't tell anybody!) Just drop a review on your way out and don't forget to tip your waitresses.


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